The graduating class of 2021 might be the most unique in a generation.
Their entire last year of high school, and part of their junior year, was dominated by the pandemic. That meant learning from bedrooms, adjusted sports seasons and dramatic changes to the events that cap off the high school experience. These students had to figure out what their lives would be like after high school during a period of uncertainty and while dealing with the same motivation slumps many of us also had.
Three seniors in the Austin Independent School District shared with KUT some of the experiences they faced during this uncommon year:
School districts across Texas implement massive austerity and cuts to staff
Despite the allocation of roughly $11.2 billion in federal funds ostensibly to support public education, school districts across Texas are cutting staff and closing schools. Over the past year, tens of thousands of teachers were forced to quit or retire early after the state government aggressively pressured districts to reopen amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
Across the state, huge numbers of these teaching positions are being left as unfilled vacancies, encompassing nearly all the major school districts. This mass attrition follows the expiration of the state’s hold on cutting school funding that was extended through 2020, following declines in attendance due to the pandemic.
KUT
A vial of the COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer BioNTech provided to healthcare workers at Dell Medical School on Dec. 15.
Local health officials hope the Food and Drug Administration s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children between 12 and 15 will help boost herd immunity in the Austin area.
While Austin Public Health isn t offering the Pfizer vaccine (at least for now), there are plenty of options for Austinites to get a first dose of that or other vaccines this weekend.
Here s a rundown.
UT Health
The University of Texas at Austin is offering first doses of Pfizer s COVID vaccine to pre-registered patients or people without appointments. Walk-in spots are available at UT s Health Transformation Building from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can also pre-register at UT Health s website.
Candace Hunter said HB 3979 would make it harder to teach social studies in classrooms. Author: Jenni Lee Updated: 12:50 PM CDT May 11, 2021
AUSTIN, Texas Candace Hunter taught social studies for the Austin Independent School District (AISD) from 2007 to 2015.
She said discussing race and gender is part of learning for students. If you don t want to teach kids about race, I will tell you it s going to come up. There s nothing you can do about it, Hunter said.
But if House Bill 3979 is passed, discussions about race or gender would be illegal if it makes an individual uncomfortable. Senate Bill 2202, its companion bill, passed out of the Senate last month.
Colorado teachers denied reemployment by panel of private consultants and administrators At the beginning of the semester, all teachers, school staff and paraprofessionals at Mitchell High School in the city of Colorado Springs were summarily dismissed as of the end of this school year and informed that they would have to reapply for their jobs for 2021-22. With the support of the local unions, every educational employee was told to either seek employment elsewhere or compete against others to secure a new contract at Mitchell.
Veteran and new educators lost their jobs at Mitchell, a high-poverty school with many students coming from first-generation immigrant families. The claim made by the school district that this was done out of concern for the children because of their low college admission test scores is a lie.