Schools across the Houston area have been dealing with a number of threats this month.

Multiple Houston area schools were forced to either go into lockdown or secure mode due to threats or violence on campuses Wednesday.

Meet the young man who will soon make his way to Yale; Elsik High School senior, Yassin Mabizari.

“Absent the STAAR test, you’re not going to have a valid, reliable view of grade-level mastery of student skills,” he said. Last spring, Texas applied for and received a waiver from the federal government allowing it not to administer the STAAR. Texas has already committed to allowing elementary and middle school students who fail the exams this spring to move up to the next grade, with district permission. Usually, student scores on the test determine whether high school students can graduate, whether some elementary and middle school students can move on to the next grade, and whether schools can remain open. The Texas State Teachers Association, which has been calling for a suspension of STAAR testing since June, quickly came out in support of the legislators’ letter.

HOUSTON – As Houston police search for a man and three women seen fleeing the scene of a shooting on Monday that left 16-year-old Mareja Pratt dead. “I was telling them, you know, try to make peace because, at the end of the day, we are family,” said Marsha Nutall, Pratt’s mother. “I just thought she was mad,” said Dekambrie Pratt, who was shot in the back during the incident. She was only standing there.”“I’m just trying to hold on for my family,” Nutall said. “We called her the little fireball, the goofball of the family.”The family has set up a Go Fund Me to raise money to pay for Mareja Pratt’s funeral.

HOUSTON – Houston police have identified a suspect after 16-year-old Mareja Pratt was killed and two other people were injured in a shooting on Monday afternoon. Houston police said the shooting is connected to a “social media beef.”A warrant was issued for the arrest of the suspect, Kenny Charles Garrett, 24, who faces a murder charge and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police said Garrett was dating a friend of Pratt’s cousin at the time of the shooting. “(It’s) a very sad time where a 16-year-old female lost her life unnecessarily over something that seems to be pretty trivial, over a social media beef,” Angelo said. They killed my cousin,” Walton said.

HOUSTON – School is back in session today for Alief ISD Thursday morning. Things will look different this year for students and educators because instruction is 100% virtual for the time being. One was held at Alief Taylor High School and another is slated for Thursday at 8 a.m. at Elsik High School. Principal Mary Williams said although things will look different they are excited to get the school year started. “The first day of school is always my favorite day of school and this is just a little bit different,” said Williams.

On Wednesday, a $2,500 Senior Scholarship was awarded to Elizabeth Ogolo from Elsik High School. When I was going through my situations and circumstances, I really had wished there someone there to help me. I thought If I was able to see something happening to someone else, knowing that I wanted that help, I just wanted to offer myself to help somebody else. If you have something going on and you need help, there is always somebody out there willing to help you. Just like I was able to find somebody to help, there is somebody out there that can help you.