You May Have Overlooked These Observer News Stories

It’s been a long year and we’ve written plenty of stories. Some of our coverage blows up, like our stories about Pete Delkus, local weather and Texas hemp laws. We appreciate every set of eyes we can get on any article. But some stories just don’t get the love we feel they deserve.

From time to time, the stories that get overlooked are about really important stuff. We get it. We type a lot of words nearly every day. It can be a lot to keep up with. So, no hard feelings. In that spirit, here are some stories from the news section in the last year that you might want to go back and read.

A Prospering School District
The Prosper Independent School District has seen a lot of growth over the last couple of decades. It’s added more than 20 campuses and more than 27,000 students since 2001. So, maybe it wasn’t the craziest idea to put a proposed new $94 million stadium on the ballot for the district – just a little crazy. Not everyone was on board with the idea, though, and it showed at the polls. Proposition C, which would have allowed for the new $94 million stadium, was rejected by 55% of voters. Maybe next time, Prosper. 

COVID and Chronic Absenteeism
COVID-19 rocked the world. That’s probably the understatement of the century. The world continues to recover from the pandemic, but it’s still impacting the lives of students locally and across the country. The pandemic ignited a mental health crisis among K-12 students, a crisis that has reared its head in a number of ways. One of those ways is chronic absenteeism in schools. According to the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, 22% of students in the U.S. were on their way to being considered chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year. Drugs and alcohol, anxiety and depression, as well as financial and transportation issues are all potential contributing factors to chronic absenteeism among students that educators are desperately trying to address.

Educate Yourself
Sex education has gotten a facelift in Texas in recent years, but advocates say it’s still not in great shape. The standards for sex education in Texas today don’t include lessons about consent or language inclusive to LGBTQ+ students, which advocates have long pushed for. Other than abstinence, lessons about contraception aren’t in the state standards either. If that wasn’t bad enough, the state also requires parents to opt in for lessons about abuse prevention. Luckily, advocates have successfully pushed for sex education to be required in middle schools. But they say more work needs to be done to expand sex ed in Texas.

Overdose City
At the beginning of the year, the city of Dallas partnered with Fort Worth’s Recovery Resource Council in an effort to tackle opioid abuse in the area. Dallas’ Opioid Response Team has responded to thousands of life-saving calls since 2021. They often show up to the scene of an overdose ready to administer a drug called Narcan, which can block the effects of opioids on the brain. But administering Narcan is only the first step in this life-saving process. Over the next 24-72 hours following an opioid overdose, the Opioid Response Team attempts to contact the person they saved and connect them with treatment. It may not work every time, but it’s Dallas’ stab at addressing a rising number of opioid overdoses in the city.

A Mind on Fire
Since 2018, four Dallas firefighters have died by suicide and two others have attempted suicide. That’s partly why Dallas-Fire Rescue is working to address the mental health of its rank and file with a program started a little over a year ago. The mental health of firefighters is a focus across the country. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation estimates that at least 100 firefighters take their own lives every year. The mental health wellness program at DFR uses tactics like counseling, intervention, therapy and other treatment programs. As part of the effort, a peer support group of 56 trained people is on hand to consult firefighters through traumatic and stressful situations.