{"id":158012,"date":"2026-02-10T05:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/158012\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T05:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:48:13","slug":"austin-isd-issues-new-protocols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/158012\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ISD issues new protocols"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Brief<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin ISD adds new protocols regarding student walkouts<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Students from across Central Texas have been protesting ICE operations, immigration enforcement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">AISD is also addressing staff expectations when it comes to political activity<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Austin ISD has added new protocols in the wake of student walkouts over ICE operations and immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin ISD saw students from 14 of its campuses walk out of class on Jan. 30 and since then, students from multiple Central Texas school districts have followed suit.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The walkouts have prompted protocol changes from some of the districts, responses from state and local leaders, and new guidance from the TEA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RELATED COVERAGE:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/news\/texas-student-walkouts-continue-officials-warn-school-districts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Texas student walkouts continue as officials warn school districts;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Texas student walkouts continue as officials warn school districts<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What we know<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin ISD says it has developed more detailed protest protocols to &#8220;ensure the safety of our students and staff while maintaining our focus on on-campus instruction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Starting Feb. 9, the district says the following updates will be in effect:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On-campus walkouts within 300 feet of the building will be monitored by administrators and Austin ISD police<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If a walkout moves beyond that 300 feet, administrators and staff will remain on campus; AISD police will follow students to monitor for safety<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Once off campus, local law enforcement will monitor students<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Austin ISD is also addressing expectations for its staff after the TEA released new guidelines concerning political activity on campus and involving students, teachers and staff:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Staff are not permitted to participate in, help plan, provide guidance or endorse any student-led protest unless directed to do so for safety and monitoring purposes only; instead staff may only direct students planning a walkout to notify the principal of such plans<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Teachers are directed to remain in class with students who choose not to participate in the walkout<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Staff may not distribute materials in the classroom unless approved by the principal as part of a curriculum-based activity<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Teachers can talk about political issues with students as part of the curriculum, provided they follow guidelines to ensure balanced and critical review<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Staff may not participate in political campaigns during school or work hours, nor can they wear campaign buttons, T-shirts, hats or any items designed to influence the outcome of an election; staff also cannot display these items in their workplaces or on school property<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Staff are encouraged to exercise their constitutional rights to participate in political activity, but should do so on their own time or by taking leave<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The district also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austinisd.org\/students\/conduct-code\/student-protest-walkout-protocols\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:put together an FAQ for parents and families;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">put together an FAQ for parents and families<\/a> to learn more about how AISD handles student walkouts and protests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Source<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Information in this report comes from Austin ISD and previous reporting by FOX 7 Austin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Austin ISD adds new protocols regarding student walkouts Students from across Central Texas have been protesting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,1685,133,2143,1830,65015,60608],"class_list":["post-158012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-isd","tag-austin-news","tag-central-texas","tag-immigration-enforcement","tag-political-activity","tag-student-walkouts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}