Temple ISD welcomes students back to school

TEMPLE, Texas — Over 8,000 students poured through the doors for the first day of classes at Temple ISD on Monday, Aug. 21.

The district has continued to see growth, with 171 more students in attendance than the previous year, totaling 8,328 students across the district for the 2023-2024 school year, a number TISD said they only expect to grow as registration continues.

Temple ISD is expected to grow even more in the next school year, as Sampson-Howard Elementary School is being built in the southeast quadrant of the district and is expected to be open for the 2024-2025 school year.

Another big addition to TISD schools this year is multiple new safety and security initiatives. Each of the 15 campuses in the district now has a full-time, armed security officer on staff. TISD hired an additional eight armed security officers for the school year, in addition to the seven school resource officers already on staff, to bring the district into compliance with House Bill 3, which requires an armed guard at every school campus in the state.

Additionally, TISD said each secondary campus in the district also has security guards in addition to armed officers.

TISD said they added new security vestibules at Hector P. Garcia Elementary, Kennedy-Powell Elementary and Raye-Allen Elementary. Enhancements were also made to existing security vestibules at Jefferson Elementary and Thornton Elementary. According to TISD, every school in the district now has a security vestibule. 

Each of these projects was funded through the district's 2022 Bond proposal, according to TISD.

“I had a chance to visit every campus today and it was great to see the intersection of staff excitement and motivated students,” said Dr. Bobby Ott, superintendent of schools for Temple ISD. “It was also wonderful to see so many families and community members out supporting our students on the first day of classes. For the second year straight, we had all of our teaching vacancies filled on the opening day and that was another positive as we kick off the school year.” 

More from 6 News: