Hill Country Bible Church opens after a year+ of construction

Hill Country Bible Church Steiner Ranch hosted its grand opening celebration on Sept. 8 to a packed auditorium. Construction on the new building at the 30-acre site at 4310 N Quinlan Park Rd. took just over a year. JOYCE KANG PHOTOGRAPHY

By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

Hill Country Bible Church moved into its new church building on the hilltop near the main entrance of Steiner Ranch a couple of weeks ago. This is the culmination of many years of dedication and planning for the church, which had been meeting remotely for a decade at Laura W. Bush Elementary. HCBC Steiner has around 300 members not including hundreds more who visit each week.

The local campus is part of the larger Hill Country Bible Church at Lakeline. HCBC has other campuses and church plants throughout Austin and beyond. 

Groundbreaking for the Steiner church on its 30-acre site was July 29, 2018 

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LISD approves hiring 20 additional special education staffers

Parent urges meaningful inclusion 

By APRIL S. KELLEY, Hill Country News

Local parent Kevin O’Brien asked the Leander Independent School District to make “meaningful inclusion” part of the special education program, prior to the board’s approval to hire 20 additional staff members for the program at a cost of nearly $800,000. This happened at the Sept. 5 board meeting.

“I understand that there is going to be about $800,000 going towards special education,” O’Brien said. “I hope that you guys focus not just on hiring more teachers but changing the mindset of what meaningful inclusion is and why it works.” 

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Leander ISD exceeds 22:1 class-size ratio in 18 schools

Board approves waivers to be submitted to TEA

By APRIL S. KELLEY, Hill Country News

Eighteen K-4 schools in the Leander Independent School District exceed the Texas cap class-size ratio of 22 students for every teacher in elementary schools. 

Elementary schools in LISD that exceed the 22:1 ratio in some sections include all five in the Four Points area: Grandview Hills, Laura Welch Bush, River Place, River Ridge and Steiner Ranch. Other LISD elementary schools that exceed are: Whitestone, Faubion, Block House Creek, Mason, Giddens, Cox, Deer Creek, Rutledge, Winkley, Parkside, Ronald Reagan, Christine Camacho and Monta Jane Akin. 

At a meeting last week, LISD board members approved waivers to be submitted to the Texas Education Agency. 

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First-of-year Vandegrift schedule glitches are fixed

All Vandegrift staffers helped with the scheduling issues that happened at the beginning of the school year. Members of the counseling team include the Dean of Instruction, Testing Coordinator, Sped Lead, counseling admin and the Transition Coordinator, who all function like a team, said Charlie Little, VHS principal. (Back) Kristin Gunter, Charity Escott, Melissa Wells, Stephanie Stich, Jane Manchester, Sarah Spradling, Jennifer Fisher (Mid) Maureen Sanders, Jeana Badger, Sheri Georgoulis, Maureen Wheeler (Front) Christa Martin, Kandice Detlefsen, Peggy Morisset, Carla Kind PHOTO TEXAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Viper community pitches in to help 

By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News

When nearly 2,800 Vandegrift High School students started the 2019-2020 school year a month ago, the district-wide technology overhaul and ensuing problems left days of confusion for many Vipers. VHS counselors and other key staffers were in overdrive mode for nearly a week resolving the technology blip that caused errors in student schedules. 

The Viper community responded and about a dozen volunteers supported VHS through the problem. Most of the volunteers would stay longer than their two to three hour shifts because they just saw the need to be there, said Carla George, the parent of a senior student, who coordinated the assistance. 

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