TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple Independent School District welcomed students back to campuses for the first day of the 2023-2024 school year on Monday (August 21).
The district opened the doors to welcome 8,328 students on the first day of classes in 2023, totaling 171 more students than on the opening day of classes last year as TISD continues to see growth. The number of students is expected to climb over the next two weeks as registration continues. The district is planning for additional growth and will open Sampson-Howard Elementary School for next school year. Sampson-Howard is being built in the southeast quadrant of TISD and was approved by voters as part of the district’s 2022 Bond proposal.
Temple ISD also has several new safety and security initiatives in place for the new school year. Each of the 15 campuses now has a full-time, armed security officer. Temple ISD hired eight additional armed security officers to go with the district’s seven school resource officers (SROs) to bring TISD into compliance with House Bill 3. All of the secondary campuses in the district also have security guards teamed with the armed officers. Temple ISD added brand new security vestibules at Hector P. Garcia Elementary, Kennedy-Powell Elementary and Raye-Allen Elementary and added enhancements to existing security vestibules at Jefferson Elementary and Thornton Elementary for this school year. Those projects were also funded through the district’s 2022 Bond proposal. Every campus in TISD now has a security vestibule.
“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.”
See more from the first day of the 2023-2024 school year here: Temple ISD First Day Of School 2023-2024 - YouTube