Category Archives: Grandview Hills

Advisory committee recommends bond vote for LISD

By RICHARD LEGGITT
Hill Country News

The Leander ISD has until Aug. 21 to make a decision about whether or not to seek a bond issue for the funding needed for new area schools. At its regular meeting last Thursday, the school board’s bond advisory committee recommended that a bond issue of $453,860,841 million, without the optional items, be placed on the ballot in November’s general election.

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LISD continues uphill battle for road project

Leander ISD is proposing that a second access road to Vandegrift would run across the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve through an existing utility corridor to connect with Four Points Drive. The one-mile road would cost over an estimated $15 million.

Travis County officials weigh in,
Land swap suggested

By CALEB PRITCHARD
Austin Monitor

The Leander Independent School District has taken its quest to build a road across environmentally protected land all the way to the feds.

It’s the latest development in the district’s long-running effort to build a second roadway other than McNeil Drive for its joint Vandegrift High School and Four Points Middle School campus.

The schools are partially surrounded by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve and the district is proposing that the road run across that land through an existing utility corridor. The road would provide a secondary access route to the campus from Four Points Drive, which ultimately connects to RM 620.

In late May, the district held a community meeting encouraging parents and other supporters to take part in a social media campaign to raise awareness for LISD’s application for a permit from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We see this as our big push to put pressure on lawmakers to talk to the service so we can all just sit down and hopefully come up with a solution that serves everybody,” district spokesperson Jennifer Bailey told the Austin Monitor.

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Father of 3 dies in Steiner car crash

Jon-Erik Williams shown with one of his three daughters.

By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News

A Sunday night car crash near the entrance of Steiner Ranch took the life of Jon-Erik Cameron Williams — a father of three, a son, a brother and a friend.

“I’m glad the last day (you) were here on earth our daughter got to spend it with (you). It was a Father’s Day nobody expected,” posted ViVi Rae on Facebook. She and Williams, a San Marcos native, are parents to a 7-year-old daughter. “R.I.P. to my daughter’s dad.”

Williams, 28, lost control of the vehicle he was driving and smashed into a tree in the median near the entrance to Quinlan Crossing shopping center around 9:54 p.m. on June. 18, said a Department of Public Safety spokesperson.

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LWBE students build with their dads

Kindergarten students at Laura Welch Bush Elementary celebrated their dads recently with a Father’s Day building project.

“Home Depot partnered with us for the second year to make a memorable experience for our students and their dads,” said Mindy Hostick, LWBE kindergarten teacher. “Our parents loved this activity.”

They worked on the project on May 30, a few days before school released for summer vacation

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VHS teacher, engineer holds patent

Vandegrift teacher Martin Wiedenmeier, standing next to his patent, patented his idea for testing heart valves when he worked as a biomedical engineer.

By ASHLEY CHASE, JENNIFER WALKER
Vandegrift Voice

Martin Wiedenmeier, who teaches Introduction to engineering design/aerospace engineering at Vandegrift, holds one patent, has another pending and has sought four other patents in his career.

He worked as an engineer for many years before he started teaching.

“I spent five years working for IBM in the semiconductor path, as a process development engineer, and then 10 years as a biomedical engineer,” Wiedenmeier said. “I liked the 10 years as a biomedical engineer because I was in research and it was something new and different every day; you never really knew what you were going to get into.”

Wiedenmeier spent his 10 years as a biomedical engineer working on making medical heart valves with a company in Austin before he decided to get into teaching.

“We got bought out,” Wiedenmeier said. “I basically didn’t want to move out of Austin. I got some job offers on the East Coast and in the Midwest but didn’t want to take any of those, so I decided to get into teaching.”

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