SOUTHSIDE ISD

Rolando Ramirez says Southside ISD has overcome challenges to turn around school performance

He’s a science fair winner who built his own car, and a chief in technical design in “Formula 1 in Schools”.

She is a top scholar, entrepreneur and musician who uses her business as a way to help build culture.

In the aftermath of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, San Antonio-area school districts have discussed a myriad of ways to keep their students safe.

It has been a stressful couple years to say the least, but one school district, Southside ISD, has a new program to help their teachers’ mental health and combat burnout.

Schools across the country and in the San Antonio community are facing many obstacles due to the omicron COVID-19 surge.

Major school bonds around the San Antonio area faced different fates on Election night

From an early age, Losoya Middle School eighth-grader Persaihas Ortiz knew she wanted to play football.

Commentary: School meal programs help kids get the nourishment they need to learn at their best.

New guard shacks add a layer of protection to all schools in Southside ISD.

Monday is the start of the school year for 17 districts in and around San Antonio, one of which is Southside ISD.

The Southside Independent School District received one of the largest donations ever given to a district in the San Antonio area amid an effort to fight food inequality.

Does your student know what to do in the event of an emergency while on a school bus? Southside ISD hosts emergency bus evacuation drills to help students be prepared.

Stephanie Robles-Ng is a social studies teacher at losoya middle school in the Southside Independent School District and she is making a lasting impact on her students.

The Bexar County Fire Marshal's Office investigators arrested a man who is accused of setting multiple fires inside a Southside ISD elementary school.

A fire at a Southside ISD elementary school left two classrooms damaged from the flames, according to the school district.

Learn your passion and stick with it — that’s a message one Southside ISD music director has for others after watching her father play conjunto music growing up.

SAN ANTONIO – Community Labs has partnered with three San Antonio-area school districts to provide free COVID-19 testing this weekend before students and staff return to class after spring break. Students and employees in Southside, Southwest and Judson school districts and their families can be tested at no charge and without proof of insurance. Southside ISD will have two Covid-19 testing sites on Saturday. Southwest ISD will have one testing location on Saturday. Educational Resource Center (ERC) at 8205 Palisades Dr., Live Oak, 78233 will offer testing from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Two Southside ISD school buses set out on Friday afternoon. They recognized high-achieving students, recruited students who had transferred to other districts and tried to re-engage students who had missed virtual or in-person classes. Now, the attendance rate among the roughly 5,700 students in Southside ISD ranges from 92 to 95 percent. "Some students just don't thrive in a virtual environment — they need the structure and stability of a school," Chancellor wrote. South of the city, the school buses will visit a different neighborhood each Friday.

SAN ANTONIO – A Southside ISD school bus with two students on board was clipped by a car Tuesday afternoon in south Bexar County, district officials said. According to school district spokesman Randy Escamilla, a car swerved into the bus and clipped it. Only the bus driver and two students were on board at the time of the collision. Escamilla said the students walked out of the bus on their own. The bus driver was not at fault in the accident, officials said.

Eric Gay /Associated PressA pre-K and kindergarten school on the city's South Side remains closed following consultations with city officials over precautions for possible COVID-19 infections. After consulting with San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, the Menchaca Early Childhood Center decided to shut down last Tuesday after 14 students reported feeling flu-like symptoms, according to Southside ISD Superintendent Rolando Ramirez.

San Antonio – The coronavirus pandemic is impacting food deserts in San Antonio, but the Southside Independent School District and the San Antonio Food Bank are playing critical roles and ensuring no one goes hungry. City Council is tackling food deserts by increasing access to fresh fruit, vegetablesSouthside ISD hosts food distributions twice a month and feeds more than 5,000 people a month. Southside ISD receives the food it gives to its community members from the San Antonio Food Bank. The San Antonio Food Bank says one in four children experience hunger in San Antonio. The majority of the food the nonprofit distributes comes from donors such as H-E-B, but the food bank also has farms where it grows produce.

Southside ISD is getting ready to bring in some students back for in-person learning and campuses are making adjustments. At Menchaca Early Childhood Center, 658 students are enrolled, but only 16 are returning on Monday for in-person learning. Students in Southside ISD have been doing virtual learning since Aug. 17. At Losoya Middle School, 684 students are enrolled and 60 are returning to in-person learning next week. Southside ISD provides three free meals daily for all students.

SAN ANTONIO Southside ISD is the latest school district to announce they will be offering remote-only learning for the first three weeks of the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. Texas Education Agency: Schools can teach online-only for up to 8 weeks at beginning of yearAfter the first three weeks, the district is offering parents the choice of remote instruction, hybrid instruction or in-person instruction. Next week, administrators plan on meeting with parents to discuss back-to-school plans, school operations and COVID-19 protocols. Other San Antonio school districts to delay in-person instruction include Northside ISD, Northeast ISD and SAISD. On Friday, the Texas Education Agency issued updated guidance that allows schools more time at the beginning of the school year for online-only instruction.

SAN ANTONIO Southside ISD is lending a helping hand to a grandmother and her nine grandchildren she is raising after they lost their mobile home in a fire. District officials on Friday replaced Chromebooks and WiFi hotspots the children lost in the fire. The devices will help them continue with their virtual learning. The children also got some new clothes, shoes and $200 in gift certificates. The district is also working with a donor in hopes of replacing the familys mobile home.

SAN ANTONIO The Southside Independent School District has canceled a virtual graduation ceremony for Southside High School and Early College High School. In a message posted on the district website and in letters sent to parents and seniors, the district said it canceled the three-day event that was going to start Wednesday due to concerns over COVID-19 and after consulting with local public health officials and considering TEA guidelines. Information about a future event to honor the Class of 2020 will be released at a later date. Click here for more coronavirus coverage from KSAT.com.

SAN ANTONIO Southside ISD officials are setting the record straight after postponing its virtual graduation video shoot. Virtual graduation for Southside High School canceled at last minuteDistrict officials conferred with Texas Education Agency guidelines and local public health officials before deciding to reschedule the shoot in light of the information, which was not specified in the news release. The shoot will now take place on June 9-11 at the Southside High School campus. The school also has plans for an in-person graduation in July. At this time, we are collecting information and data.Read the full news release below:

SAN ANTONIO While San Antonio ISD teachers have been engaging with students online during the coronavirus pandemic, some children have not been logging on at all. We have a team of people whos both on the campus and at the district level, whose mission is to find these students, said Patti Salzmann, SAISD chief academic officer. There are currently 48,293 students enrolled at SAISD and the district has been able to connect with 96.6% of its students during the pandemic. Southside ISD offering calming kits to help students with quarantine fatigueSalzmann said some students might be getting paper copies of classwork and are not logging online. We might have three weeks of school left, but were looking for these students, said Richard Marroquin, Harlandale Middle School principal.

SAN ANTONIO The Southside Independent School District is offering calming kits to help students fight quarantine fatigue, a press release said Wednesday. District students from Pre-K through 12th grade are eligible to receive a kit. The districts counselors said the tools in the calming kits are fun and safe items children can use to help bring about calmness. Southside ISD counselors will be curbside Thursday outside the Southside High School auditorium in the 19100 block of US Highway 281 South from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to hand out the calming kits to parents who drive up. Items inside the calming kits include:Play-dohbubble wrappinwheelscrayonscolored penswatercolorsjournalschalkbubblesstress ballmodel magic modeling doughmarkersThe district said the calming kits are made possible by a grant from the Southside Education Foundation and the Districts Student Services Department.

SAN ANTONIO In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the country are distance-learning and high school seniors are participating in virtual graduations. One such student is Isabella Garcia, of the Southside Independent School District. Getting to this moment has not been an easy journey for the Garcia family, as just a few years ago Isabella and her family lost her sister, Ariana. She has really inspired me to stay strong and to make my whole life about caring for children like her, Isabella said. "I can continue her legacy in a way, because she was so strong, Isabella said.

Members of the Southside ISD board of managers voted unanimously Thursday night to hire Rolando Ramirez, the current superintendent of Valley View ISD, as their next district leader. Ramirez will replace Mark Eads as superintendent, starting his new role on June 1. He served as superintendent since May 2016, through a period marked by turbulence and State intervention that led to the replacement of the elected board of trustees with an appointed board of managers. He comes to Southside ISD from Valley View ISD, a Rio Grande Valley district that enrolled close to 4,500 students in 2018-19. I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve the students, parents, and community of Southside ISD, Ramirez said, videoconferencing into the board meeting Thursday evening.

Lack of grocery stores near Southside ISD remains big concernPublished: December 17, 2019, 10:08 amLast November, KSAT 12 pointed out the lack of grocery stores near the Southside Independent School District. Since that report, the school district has opened its own food pantry, to offset the limited convenient access to fresh fruits and vegetables.