During its Feb. 27 special session, the San Antonio City Council voted to censure Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones after an investigation into alleged verbal abuse toward District 1 council member Sukh Kaur.

What happened: In an 8-1 vote, with District 9 council member Misty Spears voting against and Kaur in absentia, the City Council voted to censure Jones after a verbal altercation with Kaur in a council break room Feb. 5.

An investigation into the incident was conducted by an outside party after Kaur submitted a formal complaint that was backed by a memo from five council members.

A closer look: Prior to recusing herself from the meeting, Jones issued a second public apology to Kaur regarding her actions, stating that her passion for enforcing public safety got the better of her. As part of her statement, Jones agreed to step aside from the Governance Committee for three months, effective immediately. She also said she would participate in leadership training.

After receiving feedback from residents, parents, students and teachers, the Northside ISD board of trustees discussed a potential name change of Colonies North Elementary to honor a notable figure within the NISD community Feb. 24.

The gist: The discussion took place after an open house at Colonies North Elementary and after district officials received 617 survey responses, with 512 respondents against the renaming and 72 respondents for the name change. In light of the strong response against a potential name change, the board decided it would not take any action regarding the proposal.

District 7 trustee Karen Freeman said the decision not to take any further action aligns with NISD’s community-focused policies.

“I think one of the hallmarks of Northside is our community schools … people identify that school as their school … people want to stay at their school,” Freeman said. “I think we do need to listen to our community.”

Additionally, District 6 trustee Carol Harle pointed out that the name change, which would cost approximately $37,000, is an unnecessary expense.

From GameStop closing several stores to a new zoo habitat, check out these 5 business updates from February in North San Antonio.

Expansions
San Antonio Zoo
The city’s zoo added a brand new, larger open-air tamarind habitat after decommissioning the outdated exhibit.

• 263903 N. St. Mary's St., San Antonio

• 2981 S. Hwy. 16, Fredericksburg

• 7117 Blanco Road, Ste. 1; 11745 W. I-10, Ste. 120; 1742 N. Loop 1604 E., Ste. 119, San Antonio

Dozens of Texans shared their feedback Feb. 25 on the current phase of a lengthy revision of the state’s social studies curriculum standards. Parents, educators and students urged the State Board of Education to slow the revision process down and give those drafting the new curriculum more time to work.

The overview: The state is currently overhauling the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for social studies, which are the standards dictating what public school students should learn at each grade level. The board is expected to adopt the new standards this summer before they are rolled out to classrooms in 2030.

“We have one opportunity to get this right for an entire generation of students,” said Meghan Dougherty, an Austin-area social studies specialist involved in the revision process.

Zooming in: Several educators involved in drafting the new curriculum plan said current proposals included "too much content" with a heavy emphasis on Texas history, while some appointed content advisers and SBOE members argued schools should teach lessons focused on "American exceptionalism [and] Texan exceptionalism."