Alief ISD leaders have put new policies in place and retrained employees to prevent the illegal suspension of homeless students, the result of a state-mandated plan to prevent the practice.

District administrators unveiled the corrective action plan last week in response to the Texas Education Agency finding Alief staffers had illegally suspended 15 homeless students in 2022-23. State officials started probing illegal suspensions of homeless students across Texas after a May 2024 investigation by the Houston Landing revealed hundreds of districts continued to engage in the practice despite a 2019 state law largely outlawing it. 

In passing the law, legislators cited homeless students’ reliance on school facilities for meals, showers, and other resources. Alief serves hundreds of homeless students in southwest Houston.

“This is not just about correcting past mistakes,” Alief Chief of Schools Cecilia Crear said during a district school board meeting Thursday. “It’s about reaffirming our responsibility to support every child in their academic journey, regardless of the challenges they face.”

TEA leaders pledged in August 2024 to examine statewide suspension data and launch further investigations into districts’ disciplinary processes as needed. A TEA spokesperson said Monday the agency was not immediately able to comment on how many Texas school districts have been ordered to develop corrective action plans. 

Several Houston-area-districts, including Alief, told the Landing early this school year that they were making changes in response to the Landing’s investigation.

Crear said the TEA first notified the district of its illegal suspensions in the summer of 2024, requiring the district to come up with a corrective action plan to prevent a formal investigation. According to a TEA audit, Alief suspended 25 homeless students in 2022-23, 15 of which were illegal. (Districts are required to suspend students, regardless of housing status, for offenses involving violence, weapons, drugs or alcohol.)

Alief’s plan requires district employees to consult student information databases before disciplining students, and all out-of-school suspensions must now go through campus principals. The district also created a new digital alert code in its records system to notify employees when they try to suspend a student who qualifies as homeless or housing insecure.

District staff received training on the district’s new practices last month, Crear said. The district will conduct an internal audit of how it’s following state law before the TEA sends a state-appointed auditor for review later this year.

“At the end of the day, I appreciate the fact that you … did come up not defensive or trying to defend behaviors,” Alief Board President Darlene Breaux told Crear on Thursday. “You just came here and said, ‘This is what it is, and this is not who we are.’” 

State data show Alief enrolled 843 homeless students during the 2023-24 school year, equal to roughly 2 percent of its student body, though Crear said the district typically serves about 1,200 homeless students annually. State data typically captures a snapshot in time, and students’ housing situations can change daily.

Across the district, Alief issued 11 suspensions per 100 students last school year, a rate that’s higher than the state average of 7 per 100 students but lower than some Houston-area districts with similar demographics. 

Out-of-school suspensions can potentially disrupt students’ learning, and state data show homeless students drop out more frequently than almost any other student group. School administrators and lawmakers largely continue to support the use of suspensions in some cases, often citing student safety and benefits to non-disruptive students. 

School board member Rick Moreno asked Crear if she could find out if the illegally suspended homeless students returned to campus after the punishment. Crear said she didn’t have that information immediately available, but she could find it out.

“I’m worried about those 15 students,” Moreno said.

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