BAYTOWN, Texas – A Baytown mother is pushing for change after her teenage son was allegedly stabbed to death by a classmate at school last year.
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What we know:
Authorities say Andrew Meismer was killed after being stabbed with a pair of scissors by another student during a fight over a vape pen inside Sterling High School.
Now, his mother, Rebecca Meismer, is working on proposed legislation she hopes will prevent another tragedy.
On Tuesday night, Meismer held a community meeting in Baytown, bringing together school district leaders, city council members and community advocates to discuss the proposal.
What is Andrew’s Law?
Meismer is calling the proposed legislation “Andrew’s Law” in honor of her son.
She says the goal is to make sure physical assaults that cause injuries in Texas schools are not handled solely through school discipline.
Under her proposal, schools would be required to report those incidents to law enforcement for investigation. She also wants cases reviewed by prosecutors to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.
Meismer says she wants to establish a clear process for documenting incidents and how they are handled.
“We want mandatory school reporting. We want initial police investigation to gather evidence, document injuries,” Meismer said. “We want mandatory case submissions, meaning we want that case to go to the DA.”
She emphasized that the goal is not to criminally charge every student involved in a school fight, but to make sure serious incidents receive proper review.
“It doesn’t mean that every case is gonna be prosecuted. It doesn’t mean that every child is gonna be treated like a criminal,” Meismer said.
In her son’s case, 18-year-old Aundre Matthews is charged with murder. Prosecutors say Matthews had previous allegations involving knives and inappropriate conduct before the deadly stabbing.
Local leaders attend community meeting
Tuesday night’s meeting brought together several local leaders, including Goose Creek CISD Superintendent Joe Rodriguez and the district’s school board president, James Campisi.
A representative from State Representative Terri Leo-Wilson’s office also attended, along with two Baytown City Council members.
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Baytown City Council member Sarah Graham says she supports Meismer’s efforts. She also believes parents and guardians need to be held accountable.
“We get caught up in playing the blame game. We wanna blame the schools, wanna blame law enforcement, but there are many times that the parents themselves or the guardians are accountable to a high degree as well,” Graham said.
Community advocates push for more accountability
Members of Citizens 4 Strong Education, a Baytown community organization that helped Meismer organize the meeting, also spoke about changes they would like to see included in the proposed legislation.
Jesse Hardin says she wants law enforcement to play a larger role in investigating assaults that happen on school campuses.
“I would like law enforcement to take an active role with any action that causes injury to a student or staff member on a campus,” Hardin said.
She believes those incidents should be reviewed through the criminal justice system rather than handled exclusively by school administrators.
Nick Rice, also with Citizens 4 Strong Education, says schools need to recognize warning signs of potentially violent behavior and make sure students receive help before situations escalate.
“The juvenile justice system is designed to be a rehabilitative process. It’s not designed to be punitive. It’s designed to get kids on the right track,” Rice said.
Rice also believes teachers and school administrators should be made aware when students have a history of violent offenses so they can better protect themselves and others.
“Everyone deserves to come to a safe school environment,” Rice said.
He hopes changes can be made to prevent another tragedy.
“The truth is here, in this case, there are two families that have lost a child, and we want to prevent this from ever happening again,” Rice said.
What’s next:
Meismer says she has already been discussing the proposal with local lawmakers and hopes to have a bill drafted soon.
She plans to continue gathering input from community members and local leaders as she works to turn Andrew’s Law into legislation aimed at improving school safety and accountability across Texas.
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