EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from Eanes & Lake Travis ISDs
COMPILED BY GRACE DICKENS
DISTRICT HIGHLIGHTS EANES ISD The district hosted a Central Texas Best Buddies Friendship Walk to support inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in May. Students from EISD, Lake Travis ISD and Hutto ISD gathered to walk the track at Chaparral Stadium, visit booths and play games to raise more than $36,000 for Best Buddies. LAKE TRAVIS ISD Board of trustees Place 3 Erin Archer was sworn in at the May 18 meeting. Archer is a business owner and mother. She replaces Jessica Putonti, who joined the board in 2018. Archer was sworn in along with board President John Aoueille and Place 5 Trustee Kim Flasch. EANES ISD The district accepted a $2.75 million donation from the Eanes Education Foundation. The funds will help with sta compensation for 2022-23. The district also accepted $150,000 from the Westlake Chap Club for coaching stipends and team travel along with a $31,030 donation from the Barton Creek Elementary School Booster Club for a digital marquee. Eanes ISD board of trustees Meets June 21 at 6 p.m. at 601 Camp Craft Road, West Lake Hills. www.eanesisd.net Lake Travis board of trustees Meets July 20 at 6 p.m. at 607 RM 620, Lakeway. www.ltisdschools.org Leander ISD board of trustees Meets June 23, July 21 at 6:15 p.m. 300 W. South Drive, Leander. www.leanderisd.org MEETINGS WE COVER NUMBER TO KNOW growth in Eanes ISD for 2022- 23 compared to around 9% in previous years 21.4% QUOTE OF NOTE “I THINK REGARDLESS OF THE OUTCOME OF WHAT HAPPENS ... WE NEED TO KEEP THE HEAT UP, AND WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THEY UNDERSTAND IT’S NOT SUSTAINABLE.” KEN HEPBURN, RESIDENT ON NEW SCHOOL OFF BELL SPRINGS ROAD taxable assessed value of property
Community protests against 24-acre land purchase
Concerns of residents Residents of the area expressed several issues with the purchase of this land for a school. Concerns about topography, water availability and tra c hazards were among the chief concerns expressed at the meeting, alongside preserva- tion of the natural landscape and lack of infrastructure in the area to support more people. Several residents said they were not noti ed of the potential purchase of the land. The plots of land are in the least-populated part of Travis County, according to the Statistical Atlas, which utilizes census data. The population density of south- western Travis County is 84 people per square mile, compared to 646 people per square mile in Hudson Bend, and 861-1,919 people per square mile in Lakeway and Bee Cave, according to the Statistical Atlas. Jessica and Ken Hepburn run a nature resort on the property next to the proposed land purchases. People go there to enjoy the beauty of the nationally treasured Texas Hill Country, which would be ruined in the event an elementary school were to be put on the land next door, Ken Hepburn said. “This is the last bit of Hill Country that exists that’s not big-box stores and stu you can see anywhere,” Jessica Hepburn said. Water was a major point of con- tention for several residents. Being located so far from surface water
LAKE TRAVIS ISD Members of the community came together to discuss updates and next steps for protesting the purchase of roughly 24 acres in the southwestern portion of Lake Travis ISD o Hamilton Pool road south of RM 12 on May 26. Residents said they have been meeting with local o cials such as Hays County Commissioner Lon Shell and Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard, along with the LTISD’s superintendent and others. In April, the district permitted the superintendent to contact land- owners to negotiate a purchase sale agreement for the two plots. Community members initially gathered at the district’s May 18 board meeting to publicly speak against the acquisition, citing a number of concerns. The meeting May 26 brought the community together for a second time at Family Business Beer Co., located just down the street from the proposed purchase site. The land consists of two side-by- side parcels with di erent owners located between the Hamilton Hills and Vista Oaks neighborhoods. The larger 19.58-acre plot of land is at 700 Bell Springs Road, and the smaller 4-acre lot is at 20511 Hamilton Pool Road. School district documents did not specify the intended use for the land; however, the district is in need of elementary schools for the growing population of students, according to the district.
PLOT PROBLEMS Residents’ concerns about building a school on the residential properties include topography, infrastructure and tra c.
20511 HAMILTON POOL ROAD 4 ACRES
700 BELL SPRINGS ROAD 19.58 ACRES
SISK LN.
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Trustees OK 5%-6% midpoint raise for all district employees EANES ISD The board of trustees unanimously approved a 5% midpoint raise for salaried sta and a 6% midpoint raise for hourly sta at its May 10 meeting. Substitute teachers also were included as part of the raises; however, the raise they receive will be added into the raise they received in October when base pay went from $103 to $120 a day. the developers, and even power, all these things that are missing ... all those little things we don’t like, they’re keeping out the high-density developers. I would argue that the lynchpin of it all is water.” supplies, many homeowners and agriculturalists in the area use wells for water. Many have had to dig their wells deeper and deeper as water supplies run low and the Trinity Aquifer grows weaker. The district likely would have to run its own water line out to the school, which would open up more possibilities for further devel- opment in the area, resident and geologist Tom Gri th said. “Out here on West Hamilton Pool Road, we’ve got a bit of a house of cards going on,” Gri th said. “Between transportation, water and
District buys land for future school
PURCHASED LAND
BEE CREEK RD.
• 25 acres • used for future facilities
LAKE TRAVIS ISD Trustees unanimously voted to purchase a $4.5 million plot of land o Bee Creek Road at their May 18 meeting. Located at 4528 Bee Creek Road, Spicewood, the parcel is roughly 25 acres and will be used for future educational facilities, according to the district. The district approved the superintendent or a district representative to move forward with negotiations in March. The land will be paid for out of the
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district’s 2018 bond and is near Lake Travis Middle School, o the roundabout at Bee Creek Road and Highlands Boulevard. A project timeline has not been announced.
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LAKE TRAVIS WESTLAKE EDITION • JUNE 2022
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