Health, Safety, and Discipline

To ensure wellness, learning, and physical and psychological safety across the learning community, an integrated approach is essential to promote a comprehensive and aligned Safe and Supportive School Program (SSSP).

The Texas Education Agency's Student Discipline Program provides guidance to local education agencies and regional education service centers on disciplinary policies and procedures as well as discipline data reporting requirements outlined in the Texas Education Data Standards.

Guidance, waivers, and emergency resources to help Texas schools prepare, respond, and recover.
 

As mandated reporters, educators and other school staff must remain informed on the topic of child abuse. School personnel represent the largest professional resource for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect in Texas. Education leaders can promote awareness of Texas laws and the safety of Texas students by developing effective reporting policies, programs, and employee training.

Health is not just the absence of disease—it is complete physical, mental, and social well-being. A school health program that effectively addresses students’ health consists of many different components. Each component makes a unique contribution while also complementing the others.

Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transporting, or procurement of a person for labor or services for the purpose of involuntary servitude, slavery, or forced commercial sex acts.  While human trafficking is a global problem, it is also a Texas problem.  School-aged children are vulnerable to the manipulation and exploitation tactics of traffickers. Unfortunately, law enforcement has confirmed cases of trafficking occurring on school grounds, at school events, and even carried out by classmates.

State law requires school districts to annually assess the physical fitness of students enrolled in grade three or higher and to provide the results of individual student performance on the administered physical fitness assessments to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The Physical Fitness Assessment Initiative (PFAI) is a program designed to collect and analyze the required student physical fitness data.

Pregnancy Related Services are support services, including Compensatory Education Home Instruction (CEHI), that a pregnant student receives during the pregnancy prenatal and postpartum periods. Districts may choose whether to offer a PRS program. If a district chooses to offer a PRS program, it must offer CEHI services as part of that program, as they are mandatory. 

These services are delivered to a student when:
- the student is pregnant and attending classes on a district campus;
- the pregnancy prenatal period prevents the student from attending classes on a district campus; and
- the pregnancy postpartum period prevents the student from attending classes on a district campus.

Restorative Practices (RP) in Texas began in the Fall of 2015. The Texas Education Agency partnered with the Institute for Restorative Justice and Restorative Dialogue at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work to participate in a statewide roll out.

As required by Texas Education Code §29.0113, Texas public schools must provide information about the options available through the Texas Driving with Disability initiative.