Kelly Wiley

I had a wonderful night celebrating great journalism happening across Texas! Plus our investigation “From Class to Courts: Texas’ Untracked Truancy System” and our team’s project “Undocumented” was honored with Lone Star Emmy awards!

The Austin Independent School District released data showing how often it referred kids to truancy court this school year, revealing a significant decline from the previous year. Austin ISD is the largest school district in Central Texas, and the fight for its truancy data highlights how difficult it can be to understand the scope of Texas’ truancy system without accessible data. KXAN News

‘In the dark’: Bills tracking impact of Texas’ truancy courts on kids not likely to pass Austin ISD is the largest school district in Central Texas, and the fight for its truancy data highlights how difficult it can be to understand the scope of Texas’s truancy system without accessibl…

An Austin family has spent months fighting to see a video detectives say shows her 6-year-old being pinned behind a classroom door. The district is citing a legal exception to keep his parents from viewing it despite federal and state laws giving them special access. KXAN News

Austin ISD policy prevents parents from seeing video of alleged crimes against kids Across Texas, some school districts are using an exception in the state’s Public Information Act, often reserved for third parties like journalists, as grounds to not allow parents to view vi…

NEW: Texas school districts reported an 18 percent rise in students assaulting district employees in the 2023-24 school year, according to Texas Education Agency data.
https://www.kxan.com/investigations/students-assaulting-educators-on-the-rise-across-texas/
KXAN News

Students assaulting educators on the rise across Texas The number of school employees being assaulted on the job is rising in Texas. More than 2,600 assaults on educators were reported last school year, according to data from the Texas Education Agency…