Southside ISD under ‘notice of special accreditation investigation' from TEA

SAN ANTONIO – The commissioner of the Texas Education Agency has sent notice to Southside Independent School District that it is under “notice of special accreditation investigation.”

An information specialist within the TEA said there is not timeline for how long the investigation will last.

According to chapters 39.057 and 39.058 of the Texas Education Code the commissioner may authorize an investigation for more than a dozen reasons. That includes: excessive student absences, alleged violation of civil rights, conflict between the school board of trustee and district administration and as the commissioner otherwise determines necessary.

The school district declined to comment on the investigation and told KSAT to contact the TEA for information.

Section 39.102 of outlines several possible interventions and sanctions should the district not satisfy accreditation criteria outlined in section 39.057.

The investigation comes weeks after the district announced the hiring of a new superintendent.

Mark E. Eads is currently superintendent at San Marcos CISD and is expected to begin his job on Monday after a specially called board meeting.

Southside ISD is currently the third school district in San Antonio under some sort of intervention or investigation from the TEA. Both Edgewood and South San ISD's are being run by state-appointed conservators.