Central Texas braces itself as school districts, heeding warnings from meteorologists, announced adjusted schedules on Friday to counter the threat of severe weather poised to sweep across the region, KXAN reports. Austin ISD has called off all after-school activities, while Buckholts ISD released students early at 2:45 p.m. to ensure their safety.
Other schools followed suit with Del Valle ISD ending its elementary after-school programs by 3 p.m.; middle and high school programs were also canceled, signaling the seriousness of the situation as the CBS Austin forecast indicates severe weather beginning to intensify from 2 p.m. ranging until 7 p.m., and could include very large hail, damaging winds, and the possibility for tornadoes emerging alongside the menace of flash flooding.
According to KXAN, schools like Georgetown ISD executed an early release, with elementary schools closing at 3 p.m., middle schools at 2:10 p.m., and high schools at 1:45 p.m.; Hutto ISD adopted a similar approach, allowing elementary students to leave at 1:30 p.m. and middle schoolers at 2:20 p.m., with the high schoolers following at 3 p.m.; all these quick dismissals were precautionary measures spurred by the escalating weather concerns.
The ripple effect of these early departures was felt across the region, as Jarrell ISD released middle and high school students at 2 p.m., though the elementary level held steady at their standard dismissal time, Taylor ISD, on the other hand, will see their halls emptied at 1:30 p.m. for elementary scholars, 2:15 p.m. for middle school students, and a final bell for high schoolers at 2:30 p.m. – all while after-school programs, events, and extracurricular activities found themselves canceled in the wake of the incoming storm.
Meanwhile, Leander ISD has wiped clean its post-4:30 p.m. schedule of enrichment activities and other events; likewise, Liberty Hill ISD paused its Panther Care and academy programs, ensuring that staff would oversee any students until they could be safely collected by parents. Round Rock ISD stands by its standard dismissal times but has drawn the line at after-school activities, encouraging parents to retrieve their children early if possible, in a bid to be prudent in the face of uncertainty that the weather has woven into the fabric of the day.
