Car crashes into north Austin elementary school overnight; Driver identified as staff member

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A staff member crashed a car into the front of T.A. Brown Elementary School in North Austin overnight, according to school officials.

The Austin Independent School District sent an email out Thursday morning saying that while the building will need significant repairs, the campus is "structurally sound" and will remain open to serve students and families.

T.A. Brown is located on Guadalupe Street near the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and West Anderson Lane.

AISD Chief of Police Wayne Sneed and Superintendent Matias Segura provided details on the incident during a press conference Thursday morning.

Sneed said a dispatcher with the AISD police department got an alarm call from the campus at 1:17 a.m. and immediately notified the Austin Police Department, which got to the school at 1:19 a.m.

APD took the driver into custody, and the investigation is ongoing. Sneed said intoxication was not believed to be a factor.

The driver was identified by Sneed and Segura as a staff member of T.A. Brown, but they did not give any details on the person's position at the school. Sneed said they had minor injuries.

Segura said he was notified of the incident around 3 a.m. and started working on a contingency plan. He said AISD wanted to make the day "normal from a student perspective," though for staff it was different.

The school did not have major structural damage, according to Segura, and crews were already on site clearing debris and starting the repair process Thursday morning.

"Because [the driver] was identified as a staff person, we want to make sure they're supported to the best of our abilities, and we're going to be really sensitive to it," Segura said. "We're going to treat it with the utmost care, but we do recognize that a safety issue did occur last night and we're addressing that in accordance to our policies."

Those policies included whether or not to shut down school for the day, and how to provide care and counseling to students and staff as needed, Segura said.