Austin ISD and Hays CISD have said they had no affiliation with the walkouts, and students will be met with consequences for unexcused absences.
AUSTIN, Texas — As student walkouts continue across Central Texas, many families are asking what happens next. School districts KVUE asked, and others that have made statements recently, say students will be assigned an unexcused absence per Texas state education code.
The numbers so far
KVUE reached out to Austin ISD to get a sense of how many students had participated in the walkouts in recent days.
According to a spokesperson, there were 21 student-organized protests across the campuses. Participation ranged from 10 students to several hundred.
KVUE also reached out to Hays CISD, who said between 5% and 15% of students across five campuses participated in walkouts. The district said that translates to several hundred students with Hays CISD.
Consequences for students participating in the walkouts
Both school districts have said students will be assigned an unexcused absence.
In an effort to discourage future student walkouts, Hays CISD announced on Tuesday that students will need their parent to sign them out of school to avoid an unexcused absence. The district also announced the return of Saturday detention. Students could also face in-house suspension.
Austin ISD said while it will not impose consequences beyond those implemented for unexcused absences, it wanted to remind students and families that numerous absences, excused or not, could result in not getting final grades or class credit, and it could also mean truant status for a student. That would be per Texas state education code section 25.092 and section 25.091.
AISD could not confirm if any students involved in the walkouts would be up for truancy court proceedings. Hays CISD does not believe any students that walked out would be up for truancy proceedings, but did say first-time offenders will be looking at Saturday detention.
Per Texas education code section 25.091, school districts do have to work with students who have an attendance record between 75% and 90% to help make up the lost instructional hours. However, if a student is in the criminal or juvenile system, a judge will be needed to sign off on any plan to make up those hours for school credit. TEC section 65.003 indicates truancy proceedings are a civil court matter.