Further considerations are being made to accommodate students and staff impacted by the upcoming Barton Creek Elementary and Valley View Elementary blend in Eanes ISD, including the purchase of portable learning studios, new traffic signage and a survey to gauge Barton Creek and Valley View staff's campus placement intentions.

EISD administration staff Miguel Garcia, Kristy Sailors and Laurie Lee provided the board of trustees with blend updates during the Feb. 25 board meeting.

Some background

The board unanimously voted Jan. 14 to close Valley View and blend the campus with Barton Creek as part of a cost-saving measure to alleviate EISD's million-dollar projected budget shortfall in 2025-26 and beyond.

The blend has brought other changes to the district, including the redrawing of some if its attendance zones to accommodate Valley View students at Barton Creek, and stopping in- and out-of-district transfers and grandfathering at Barton Creek in order to keep the blended campus' enrollment below 700.

"The enrollment process opens March 3, so we would encourage all families [and] parents to get their children's enrollment information completed as quickly as possible," Superintendent Jeff Arnett said. "The sooner we have that information, it allows us to begin making decisions for next year."

The action taken

Per agenda documents, officials are planning for the blended campus to have 33 full-size classrooms, including two portable learning studios which are slated to be delivered by June 1.

The portables will have two full-size classrooms with restrooms inside and be located at the end of the 100 and 300 hallways, where staff restrooms are also being added.

Officials are working with the EISD Police Department on various traffic safety efforts, including:

• Installing an overflow parking lot at Barton Creek
• Installing a flashing "school zone" sign on Patterson Road
• Installing crosswalk signage on Emma Avenue between Barton Creek Elementary and West Ridge Middle School

A staff survey was completed to gather Valley View and Barton Creek teachers' preferred campus and grade level, Lee said, and officials are aiming to communicate by spring break if the position they hold will be at Barton Creek or another campus.

What else?

Three additional portable learning studios—totaling six classrooms with restrooms—are also set to be delivered by June 1 to relocate the Child Development Center.

The portables will not take away Barton Creek playground space, Garcia said, and will feature nonscalable fencing, accessibility ramps and require badge access.

Check this out

A Valley View legacy event will be held April 27 from 1-4 p.m. to honor the campus before it closes at the end of the school year.