Leander ISD readies for back-to-school for 2022-2023 

The new bell schedule is the biggest change at the eight local Leander ISD campuses when classes begin on Wednesday, Aug. 17. 

Grandview Hills, Laura Welch Bush, River Place, River Ridge and Steiner Ranch elementary schools start 10 minutes earlier. Vandegrift starts 25 minutes earlier and Canyon Ridge and Four Points middle schools start 55 minutes later than last year.

Another change to the 2022–23 calendar is the removal of the Wednesday early release days. 

Safety and security is improved for students riding the LISD buses this new school year. The district introduced the new SMART tag which is a system providing accurate, near real-time monitoring of where and when students load onto and unload off of their school bus.

Tickets for athletic events are sold online only, like last year.

Unlike last year, this year there are no longer free meals at LISD campuses for everyone.

The 2022-2023 calendar includes 187 teacher days and 172 student days. The last day of school is Friday, May 26, 2023.

Revised LISD bell schedule for 2022-23 

During its June 23 meeting, the Leander ISD Board of Trustees approved changes to the bus route and bell schedule that impact start times for the upcoming school year.

Elementary and high schools will start 10 minutes and 25 minutes earlier respectively while middle schools start 55 minutes later than last year.

  • Elementary – 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. 
  • High School – 8:15 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. 
  • Middle School – 9:05 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. 

Additionally the changes will save close to $1 million with more efficient bus routes. Eliminating 18 buses running everyday is expected to give the district $955,252 in potential savings, according to the district.

LISD school safety and security discussed 

The Leander ISD Campus Support team provided details, answered questions and specified ways to make improvements to school safety and security in mid June. In response to the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde on May 24, Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a letter calling for a comprehensive review of every Texas school district’s safety and security measures. 

Staff explained to the board the district turned in its emergency operations plan in 2021. At that time, the Texas School Safety Center reviewed and approved it. Currently, support staff is focusing emergency drills on the reunification process, safely pairing student with parent in a structured way. Included in drills are identifying roles of responsibilities of student, teacher and staff. During the summer, LISD hosted its annual Safety Summit for staff when the district familiarized itself with incident command structure, the tools available, and its partnerships with law enforcement. Structurally, every campus has controlled access points. In addition, the district utilized a $700-thousand grant from Texas Education Agency (TEA) to install card readers and update our badging system.   

Staff agreed to keep the board informed of meetings and updates.