TRANSPORTATION
EDUCATION
Top transportation stories to watch in 2023
Top education stories to watch in 2023
2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
Tarrant County has 11 of the busiest roads in the state
Board of trustees approves 2023 24 academic calendar CARROLL ISD The board of trust- ees approved the academic calendar for the 2023-24 school year in a 6-0 vote at its Dec. 12 meeting. week o Nov. 20-24 for Thanksgiving break, and the winter holiday will begin Dec. 22 before students return Jan. 9, 2024. In the spring semester, professional BY HANNAH JOHNSON ACADEMIC CALENDAR The calendar the board approved will be for the 2023-24 school year.
DELAYED DRIVING
District superintendent search continues OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOW IN 2023
According to the Texas A&M Transportation Initiative, there was an increase in tra c congestion in most parts of the state. Tarrant County had 11 of the top 100 busiest stretches of roadway in the state, including eight that were busier in 2021 than 2020.
2021 2020 Ranking by year
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD transitioned leadership to Brad Schnautz on Jan. 6. He will remain interim superintendent until the board of trustees selects a new leader for the district. Superintendent Robin Ryan announced his retirement Sept. 23. He will remain as an employee with the district until Aug. 31 to assist with the transition of leadership. In a Community and Key Stakeholder Input Meeting, Rhonda Crass of education law rm Leasor Crass said the board is looking at a hire date in early spring.
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BY CODY THORN
The 2021 numbers showed an increase, but the report stated the COVID-19 e ects still had conditions below the prepandemic congestion. The West Loop in Houston was the most gridlocked stretch in 2021 for the second year in a row, and eight of the top 10 remained unchanged from the previous two years. Researchers emphasized tra c will eventually return to familiar intensity as the state’s population grows and its economy recovers, according to a press release. “Tra c congestion isn’t just a big-city problem, and that problem is almost sure to get worse as our population surges by almost 20 mil- lion in the next 25 years,” said David Schrank, the TTI’s lead researcher on the annual study. “With that kind of growth, Texas needs to use every pos- sible means to keep people and goods moving. We need to add capacity,
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Texas A&M Transportation Insti- tute’s annual report recently showed an increase in congested highways and streets in 2021. The report started in 2009 and rates the 100 busiest segments of roadways in the state with a study looking at congestion and the delay it costs in terms of time spent stuck in gridlock. There were 1,860 roadways in 23 urban areas that were reviewed during the study—funded by the Texas Department of Transportation— which looked at how much longer drivers were on the road in tra c jams compared to noncongested conditions. The delays have large nancial implications. According to research, a total of $3.8 billion was lost between wasted fuel and lost time in 2021. Truck congestion costs were $620 million.
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Start date: CISD/GCISD Aug. 15
Gina Peddy, executive director of curriculum and instruction, said the campus calendar committee and district advisory committee focused on consistency and balance in the amount of instruction days in each semester, built-in professional devel- opment days for sta and ending the school year prior to Memorial Day. The calendar has 173 days of student instructional time, split between 85 days for the fall semester and 88 days in the spring semester. In 2022-23’s academic calendar, the fall semester had 81 days, while the spring semester has 92 days. The rst day of school is Aug. 15. Students will have Sept. 4 o for Labor Day and a long weekend Oct. 6-9, which includes Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 9. Sta and students will have a
development days are scheduled for Feb. 19 and April 1. The calendar accounts for possible bad-weather makeup days March 29 and April 12. GRAPEVINE COLLEYVILLE ISD The board of trustees approved the 2023-24 academic calendar in a 6-1 vote at its Dec. 19 meeting. Trustee Becky St. John voted against the selected calendar, citing concerns for the school year starting on a Tuesday rather than Wednesday. She said a shorter rst week of school would be best for the district’s younger students. Executive Director of Instructional Leadership Shiela Shiver said the district needed to take restraints from the Texas Education Code into consideration when deciding the cal- endar. These included instructional
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Winter break: CISD Dec. 22-Jan. 8 GCISD Dec. 18-Jan. 3 Spring break: CISD/GCISD March 11-15
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SOURCES: CARROLL ISD, GRAPEVINE COLLEYVILLE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
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SOURCE: TEXAS A&M TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
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minutes for students, contract length for teachers and local holidays. In total,four drafts of the calendar were created. Shiver said the surveys received over 1,000 responses and said 52% of respondents favored Draft C, which the board approved Dec. 19.
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operate the system e ciently and give people options for how to travel.” The Dallas-Fort Worth area accounted for 37 of the top 100 busiest roadways—up from 34 in 2021. Tarrant County lays claim to 11 of the top 100
busiest roadways in Texas, including three in the top 25. I-35W between SH 183 and I-30 was sixth—up three spots—with more than 814,000 hours of delays and more than $70 million lost due to congestion.
Robin Ryan
EULESS 900 E Harwood Rd (817) 545-2184
BEDFORD 1520 Airport Fwy (817) 508-4490
KELLER 101 Keller Smithfield Rd S (817) 482-8295
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