On Wednesday, November 23, Ewit Giovanny Gomez Grageda, a first grade student at Lake Travis Elementary School, passed away as a result of injuries he sustained in a vehicle-pedestrian collision on Hudson Bend Road.

LTE principal Lizeth Thompson shared, "Giovanny was a student in Mrs. Zulay Blake’s Dual Language class, and his cousin is a kindergartener in Mrs. Erna Hook’s Dual Language class. The two students were very close and referred to each other as brothers. Giovanny was kind, friendly, and always smiling. His passing is a huge loss for our LTE community; we are going to miss him tremendously."

"Assisting students and staff during this difficult time is our top priority," said Paul Norton Superintendent of Schools. "As such, our District’s crisis counseling team is available at LTE for students and staff as needed. On behalf of the entire Lake Travis ISD family, I extend my sincere condolences to the Gomez Grageda family."

Grieving resources are available on the LTISD website.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, December 3 at Providence-Jones Family Funeral Home in Elgin. Interment will follow at Elgin Latin Cemetery.

(Photo courtesy of Providence-Jones Family Funeral Home - Elgin)

With only a few weeks remaining in the fall semester, District officials continue to address staffing shortages impacting student transportation services.

"We have hired 7 drivers and 1 monitor since the first day of school on August 16," said Brad Bailey, LTISD Assistant Superintendent of Operations. "This has allowed us to add drivers to routes in service areas outside of the two-mile radius. While this has helped, we are still short of the ideal number of drivers needed to provide services for the students who have requested transportation. To reach this goal, we would need to hire 13 more drivers in order to eliminate the current 'one-week on/one-week off' schedule. Overall, approximately 30 drivers are needed for restoring full transportation services. Rest assured, we will continue to increase our services as more drivers are hired and certified."

Many parents have asked about a long term solution to a problem affecting many school districts.

"I can tell you that we are working to attract and retain drivers, but it is a difficult task due to a lack of interest and staff shortages we not only face in our area but throughout our region, state, and nation," added Mr. Bailey. "Regardless, our team is motivated and actively recruiting candidates by attending job fairs and community events, utilizing social media, and advertising. We thanks our parents and families for their cooperation and patience as we continue to navigate through these challenges together."

If you or someone you know is interested in driving a bus for LTISD, we encourage you to contact the District's Transportation Department at 512-533-6070, or at leed@ltisdschools.org. The District's starting pay is $23.00 per hour and up to $33.11 per hour based on experience. We welcome all to apply, and no experience is needed. We provide all training and full benefits, and our drivers get holidays and summers off.

All LTISD offices and campuses will be closed for Winter Break December 19, 2022 through January 2, 2023. District offices will reopen Tuesday, January 3, and classes will resume Wednesday, January 4, 2023.

Be sure to stay up to date with major districtwide events listed in our LTISD 2022-2023 Instructional Calendar: https://www.ltisdschools.org/Domain/621.

We wish you and yours the happiest of holidays!

Lake Travis ISD’s School Health Advisory Council (SHAC)—a group appointed by the school board—is comprised of parents from each campus, students from Lake Travis High School, members of the community, and employees of the district. SHACs assist districts in ensuring that local community values are reflected in health education instruction. Additionally, SHACs play an important role in strengthening the connection between health and learning.

The LTISD SHAC has published its first newsletter of the 2022-2023 school year, "Wellness Watch - Fall 2022."

Select members of the Hudson Bend Pom Squad and Bee Cave Royalty represented Lake Travis ISD at the 96th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®.

The students (pictured left to right), which included Olivia Vo, BCMS; Ella Hooper, BCMS; Georgia McCann, HBMS; and Isabella Loredo, BCMS, performed with Spirit of America Productions. The performance opportunity was organized for award-winning individuals and teams that consist of dancers from middle schools, high schools and studios from across the country. The dancers rehearsed with staff from ShowMakers of America including Laura Truett, Hudson Bend Middle School Pom Squad Director, Dance and PE teacher, to perfect their performance for NBC. Along with rehearsals, they enjoyed some of the famous New York City landmarks, attended a Broadway Show and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, ice skated at Rockefeller Center, and visited the flagship Macy's Herald Square in Manhattan.

The artwork of Bee Cave Middle School seventh grade student Charlotte Ahrendt will be prominently displayed at an exhibit to be held in January at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Lakeway. The overall winning entry in the 8th Annual Austin-Lake Travis Lions Club Peace Poster Contest will be shown alongside Hudson Bend Middle School students Karissa Mazuelos, 2nd place overall and Hannah Cohn, 3rd place overall. Other entries selected for prizes by the Lions Club include, from Hudson Bend Middle School: Jillian Beeman, Barrett Clark, Bentley Nicholes, and Annabelle Tudor; and from Bee Cave Middle School: Olivia Vo.

For more than 30 years, Lions clubs around the world have sponsored the Lions International Peace Poster Contest in local schools and youth groups. The art contest for kids encourages young people worldwide to express their visions of peace. For 2022-2023, each poster was judged on originality, artistic merit and expression of contest theme, “Lead with Compassion.”

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.36 million members in more than 46,000 clubs in 210 countries and geographical areas around the world. In addition to its efforts toward conquering blindness, the organization has made a strong commitment to community service and helping youth throughout the world.

Lake Travis art teachers who served as contest coordinators for students are Aaron Forgey, Robin Garcia, and Michele Gavin. Judging occurred November 10 at All Star Burger. Judges included Mike Maroney, Anthem Bank & Trust; Linda Wells, published artist; and Dee Wescott, nationally-known published artist.

Charlotte's winning entry will advance to district-level competition.

The Lake Travis Education Foundation board of directors is excited to share that the 6th annual Turkey Trot was a success. A 30-minute lightning delay allowed attendees to enjoy a little extra coffee and donuts. Once underway, nearly 2,000 participants burned off the additional calories under the misty morning of November 24.

"This community event has become a memorable family experience that our friends and neighbors have come to enjoy on Thanksgiving morning," said Turkey Trot Race Chair Gary Wolff. "Best of all, we raised a record amount of funds for our LTISD students."

"Being involved for the first time this year, what I was most blessed by, was seeing so many families come together," said Amy Thomas, Director of Corporate Relations/Lake Travis Education Foundation. "The joy and energy were contagious, spreading through the crowd and making the event the best way to start a Thanksgiving celebration. Whether they ran the 5k or walked the 1-mile 'Puffin for Stuffin', it was just wonderful to see so many families come together to support our schools."

Lakeway Elementary won the annual Gobble Grant for the school with the highest level of participation.