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Liberty Hill ISD students will be off on April 8, 2024, the date NASA indicates a total solar eclipse will move across North America.
Designating this day as a professional development day for staff was one of two changes to the already approved 2023-24 academic calendar the LHISD board of trustees made at its May 15 meeting.
In a nutshell
Todd Washburn, LHISD’s assistant superintendent of schools, presented three updates about the 2023-24 academic calendar.
1. Originally, LHISD had a professional development day on April 1, 2024. This is the one the district approved moving to April 8, 2024, to align with the solar eclipse. Washburn said while staff will still work this day, this will alleviate congestion on roads, and allow students and families to take part in any eclipse-related activities.
2. The board also approved moving two back-to-back professional development days on Oct. 16 and 17, 2023, up one week to Oct. 9 and 10 to better align with Columbus Day and other districts in the area, Washburn said.
3. Washburn said while the district tries to align its spring break with that of The University of Texas and Austin Community College, when the board initially approved its calendar ACC and UT had different breaks. However, UT has since adjusted its break to match both LHISD and ACC. Spring break will be from March 11-15, 2024.
Quote of note
LHISD Superintendent Steve Snell said the epicenter of the eclipse—which is expected to last from about 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m.—is closer to Llano and Burnet, where school has also been canceled on this day. However, county officials expect significant traffic impacts.
“The county is worried that there is going to be gridlock on the roads, and we’re going to have trouble running our buses and having parent pickup during that time,” Snell said. “The county expects 400,000 to drive through Liberty Hill on the way to the eclipse.”
A closer look
Other dates students and families should know for the 2023-24 LHISD academic calendar include:
The updated 2023-24 academic calendar is available on Liberty Hill ISD’s website here.
