HEWITT, Texas — Midway ISD will start their school year Thursday with a focus on safety and a new CTE wing.
The school district will continue communication with law enforcement and teachers and staff are being asked to take a more assertive role.
Midway ISD has a message to their community regarding safety on their website outlining how teachers must react in the case of an unlikely active shooter situation.
Classes must escape if possible, then "deny," making sure doors are barricaded, kids are out of sight and doors are locked. If needed teachers must be prepared to defend their students, creating obstacles and be prepared to fight.
The district announced a change the day before school began. Lunches will not be free.
Families will have to sign up for free or reduced lunches on the Midway ISD website. From there, they will see whether those families are eligible or not.
The ISD is also welcoming students into the new CTE wing at the high school. Here, administrators said students will become more prepared for their careers.
"We have a full robotics lab where kids can build robots they can build and fly drones inside the safety of the building," an administrator at Midway ISD, Jess Wheeler, said.
This wing cost over $30 million to build. Now students have spaces to sew, build, work, and experience education that prepares them for the real world.
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"It takes concepts and put them into a hands on world really fast, so we just have state of the art resources and I am really excited to get into it," a health science teacher at Midway, Cory Schrader, said.
The biggest thing for Wheeler, is he wants every student to leave feeling confident in the field they want to join. He added that many may even leave with certificates in the field of their choosing.
"The hope is they can find their path way when they leave here that they're headed in the direction that they want to be in," he said.