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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-09-23 Euless Articles Tarrant County 7th grader saved after collapsing during football game By Ciara McCarthy September 9, 2025 4:54 PM A Tarrant County seventh grader was saved after suffering a cardiac arrest during a football game Monday night. The child collapsed during a game at Euless Trinity High School, and was saved by a fast-acting staff member who used an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, and performed CPR until the child began breathing again. The child, a student at Haltom Middle School, was transported to Cook Children’s Hospital and is reportedly recovering in good condition. Saad Rajabali, an assistant athletic trainer and science teacher at Trinity High School, said he received a call from a contract athletic trainer telling him that a player had collapsed during the game. Rajabali grabbed an AED from his office and headed straight to the field, where all game play had stopped. “They were in the process of flipping the kid over, and so at that point I just put the AED on him,” Rajabali said. The AED advised for a shock, so Rajabali shocked the child and then immediately began chest compressions until the child began breathing again, he said. The child was then transported to the hospital. Cardiac arrests are different from heart attacks, and people of any age can suffer cardiac arrests. Cardiac arrests are almost always fatal, and there are no warning signs before they strike, Dr. Tom Aufderheide, a professor of emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, told the Star-Telegram in January. Rajabali said using the AED and performing CPR was second nature after all his training to become an athletic trainer. Rajabali’s training is part of a broader effort at the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district to increase awareness of and knowledge about cardiac emergencies. The school district, which educates about 23,000 students, is working toward making CPR a skill that every student learns at least once a year starting in fifth grade, said Superintendent Joe Harrington. “W e want to get more hands on the mannequins, because we need the muscle memory,” Harrington said. The school district is also the largest in Texas to have a cardiac emergency response plan, which recently became a requirements for all Texas public schools. Harrington advised other school districts to contact the American Heart Association and work with them to create their emergency plans. For Rajabali, saving a life was just part of his job, he said. He credited his colleagues at the school district for the work they’ve done to make AEDs widely accessible throughout campuses. “It’s like scoring a touchdown,” he said. “I did my job and I executed it.” Most Fort Worth-area school districts see enrollment decline as charters, suburbs gain by Matthew Sgroi September 18, 2025 5:00 pm Students arrive at Mary Louise Phillips Elementary for Fort Worth ISD's first day of school Aug. 12, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report/CatchLight Local/Report for America) Most Fort Worth-area school districts enrolled fewer students this fall semester than they did a year ago, continuing a trend that’s reshaped classrooms and budgets across the region. Eight of the 13 districts that reported figures to the Fort Worth Report this September saw enrollment decline compared with 2024. School choice, along with declining birth rates and migration patterns, are contributing to enrollment drops, according to officials in Fort Worth, Arlington and Keller ISDs. Thousands of students attend public charter schools in the area. The late st state data shows that during the 2024-25 school year, more than 49,000 enrolled in a charter. Public school leaders worry they’ll lose even more families when the Texas education savings account program launches next school year. Texas funds schools largely based on how many students attend classes each day. Fewer students translate directly into fewer dollars. Districts such as Fort Worth ISD, which adopted a $1 billion budget with a $43.6 million shortfall for this school year, could feel more strain as students turn to other options. Already, Superintendent Karen Molinar eliminated 19 job titles and shifted $22.7 million away from central administration. The latest on your school district and more Your free weekly guide to Fort Worth-area K-12 school news and calendars. Sent to your inbox every Tuesday. FWISD, the city’s largest district, has seen the sharpest drop since the pandemic. Enrollment fell to 67,705 students in September, down from nearly 83,000 during the 2019-20 school year. Administrators said during an August board meeting that projections show the district, which faces a potential state takeover because of lagging school performance, will keep losing students in the coming years. “We know we are still working on our students,” Molinar said. “If they chose to go to a different district or a different school, a charter school, (or) private school, we’ll collect that information as well.” Average daily attendance, the figure that determines state funding, hovered near 96% for the first two weeks. To keep more students in FWISD, officials launched “Operation School Matters,” this week, a campaign of phone calls and home visits aimed at reengaging families who may have left for other districts, charters or private schools. Fort Worth ISD is not alone. Other Fort Worth-area districts are also seeing enrollment declines. Keller ISD lost ground, shrinking to 30,440 students — a 14% decline since 2019-20. “It’s a few hundred fewer than we originally projected, though we saw it coming just ahead of the start of the school year and were able to adjust our staffing and hiring accordingly,” Keller ISD spokesperson Bryce Nieman said. Everman ISD steadily declined, falling to 4,737 students from more than 6,000 before the pandemic. “Trending lower than expected,” Everman ISD spokesperson Nikita Russell said, though she noted pre-K and kindergarten enrollment numbers have held steady. Arlington ISD’s enrollment dipped to 51,395, down from more than 59,000 in 2019. District leaders and demographers warn the number could drop below 50,000 by 2032, driven by fewer kindergarteners entering classrooms and families opting for charter schools, according to a May report presented to trustees. Other districts are holding their ground or growing. Northwest ISD, one of the state’s fastest-growing systems, climbed to 32,764 students this fall, a 30.8% increase since 2019. The district budgeted for an increase of 1,100 students this school year, projecting to reach 33,144 by the end of October. Officials are dealing with the challenges that come with growth, such as building new schools to meet demand. “We have not seen any unexpected dips,” Northwest ISD spokesperson Anthony Tosie said. Aledo ISD, the area’s second-fastest growing district since 2019, continues to climb. The district projected enrollment at 8,693 students this fall — an increase of 263 students, or just over 3%, from last year’s official state count. Spokesperson Mercedes Mayer said the district is tracking almost exactly where they thought it’d be for enrollment, though growth is slower than it was a few years ago. In Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, enrollment rose to 24,221. Spokesperson Matthew LeBlanc pointed to pre-K gains this year, though younger grades are lagging. “Like most schools, we are noticing fewer students in grades K-2,” he said. Tarrant County’s birth rate has declined over the past 20 years, from about 17.3 births per 1,000 people in 2005 to about 14 per 1,000 in 2020. The actual number of babies born over that same span dropped as well, suggesting fewer young children are entering kindergarten, according to state data and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD has hovered near 23,000 since 2020. The district counted 23,200 students as of Sept. 3. “This is more than our projections. Pre-K is above our projections as well,” spokesperson Deanne Hullender said. Castleberry ISD’s numbers remain relatively flat, while Crowley ISD ticked up slightly to 16,990, about a 2% increase from last year, and Burleson ISD slipped slightly to 12,622. The shifts reflect broader statewide trends: overall Texas enrollment grew only 0.2% during the 2023-24 school year — the smallest increase since the state began collecting data. Public schools saw declines concentrated in early elementary grad es and among white students, according to the Texas Education Agency. Hispanic, Asian and multiracial student populations increased across the state. Most enrollment growth occurred in suburban and rural districts, according to the agency. Where are students going? Thousands of Fort Worth-area students each year don’t attend the neighborhood campuses they’re zoned to. Instead, families choose schools in other districts, charter networks or other options. The latest transfer records from the 2024-25 school year show the biggest shifts are into charter campuses. Uplift Education, International Leadership of Texas, IDEA Public Schools, Trinity Basin Preparatory and Harmony Public Schools –North Texas enroll the largest numbers of Fort Worth-area students leaving traditional districts. Suburban districts are also steady destinations. Grand Prairie, Birdsville and Grapevine - Colleyville ISDs continue to draw families who live inside Fort Worth ISD and other Fort Worth-area districts. Next year, the state will launch what’s expected to be the nation’s largest voucherlike program. The education savings accounts, or ESAs, will allow parents to use state funds for private school tuition or other approved educational expenses. The program is capped at $1 billion and will start enrolling students for the 2026-27 school year, meaning tens of thousands of students could participate in the program’s first year. Salad and Go will close 7 locations in and around Fort Worth Story by Teresa Gubbins The Salad and Go chain, known for quick and affordable salads, is closing 18 locations across Dallas-Fort Worth, including seven in the Fort Worth area. In good news, 25 locations will remain open. The one-of-a-kind concept, which specializes in low-priced salads in a drive-thru-only format, initially announced its closure plans on September 17, with a commitment to keep a presence in the DFW area and Oklahoma, plus locations in Arizona and Las Vegas. ・Addison: 3810 Belt Line Rd ・Arlington: 938 N Cooper St. ・Arlington: 4828 S Cooper St. ・Carrollton: 4213 N Josey Ln. ・Dallas: 5101 Ross Ave. ・Dallas: 10002 Marsh Ln. ・Dallas: 4401 Lemmon Ave. ・Euless: 211 E Euless Blvd. ・Fairview: 351 Stacy Rd. ・Farmers Branch: 13005 Josey Ln. ・Fate: 4950 E. I-30 ・Fort Worth: 6900 Blue Mound Rd. ・Fort Worth: 4601 Diaz Ave. ・Frisco: 7310 Preston Rd. ・Grand Prairie: 1045 W Warrior Trail ・Hurst: 2250 Precinct Line Rd. ・McKinney: 4751 S Custer Rd. ・Mesquite: 1950 N Town East Blvd. ・Plano: 1400 Coit Rd. ・Prosper: 1320 N Preston Rd. ・Richardson: 850 E Campbell Rd. ・Rowlett: 3201 Lakeview Pkwy. ・Sachse: 5010 S State Hwy 78 ・Watauga: 8448 Denton Hwy. ・Waco: 723 S. 6th St. The chain has provided a handy list of FAQs, with the status of locations in all of the cities where it once resided. Salad and Go was founded in 2013 in Gilbert, Arizona, by husband-and-wife Tony and Roushan Christofellis with an admirable mission to make a healthier version of fast food, including salads for under $8, in tiny stores with footprints as small as 750 square feet.