Hays CISD renews agreement to provide student behavioral services

The Hays CISD board of trustees unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding Aug. 26 with Communities in Schools to assist students at 14 campuses who have high absenteeism, poor academic performance or social service needs.

The gist

Hays CISD and CIS have entered into the MOU since 2007, per agenda documents. While the district hires counselors and a social worker at each comprehensive high school, CIS manages the most at-risk students by:

• Improving grade and academic scores through tutoring
• Helping improve attendance
• Helping reduce discipline referrals
• Providing counseling for school and family situations by making home visits and providing basic services, such as clothes, food, water and electric services
• Providing crisis intervention, mediation and de-escalation services
• Providing pre-employment skills training, such as career days
• Offering special programs on select campuses, such as AmeriCorps or the Male Student Achievement Program

Additionally, CIS will collaborate with district counseling staff for training and professional development.

Agenda documents show the MOU renewal for the 2024-25 school year will cost $587,500 and come from the district's general fund. The contract cost $522,500 in 2023-24.

Also of note

The board also approved the 2024-25 student code of conduct, which included a new section on the district's disciplinary investigative process. Per agenda documents, the section outlines the steps that will be taken when an office discipline referral is submitted.

The first step indicates the student involved will have an opportunity to provide a written or dictated statement on the incident report. If there are discrepancies between this statement and the referral form, witness statements will be collected.

“As we deal with discipline across the district [and] as we give teachers due process, it’s incredibly important to give students due process too,” trustee Courtney Runkle said. “What happens and how they see things matters, and it’s important that we give them a voice.”