Total eclipse traffic drives some Texas schools to cancel class
Editor's Note: The above video highlights how Central Texas communities are preparing for the 2024 solar eclipse event.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Texas total solar eclipse isn't until April 8, but Texas school districts are preparing now. While many districts are planning to host special events for their students, others are having to cancel class due to the expected onslaught of tourists.
"It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing for our students," Megan Hamilton, district communications specialist with Marble Falls ISD, said. The district is located in Burnet County.
"We are canceling classes because we are actually in the path of totality," Hamilton said.
Their district isn't the only one taking this approach. Academic calendars across Central Texas show at least 10 districts in the area are canceling classes on April 8, 2024, due to the eclipse.
"We actually just shifted one of our professional development days," Todd Washburn, assistant superintendent at Liberty Hill ISD in Williamson County, said.
"It was kind of a win-win for us. We didn't lose any instructional time, we just adjusted our schedule slightly," Washburn said.
Both Liberty Hill and Marble Falls ISD said they made the shift due to the expected tourists in their area. Hamilton said Marble Falls is expecting as many as 50,000 people to attend the town's eclipse festival, double the city's population.
"We're expecting to have traffic issues for the whole three days," Hamilton said. Expert eclipse chasers told KXAN that traffic in the hours before and after an eclipse is horrendous, with people traveling to places like Marble Falls and then trying to leave immediately after.
The eclipse begins at around 12:30 p.m., reaches totality shortly before 2 p.m. and concludes at around 3 p.m. Schools across the area let out at this time.
The timing of the eclipse is one of Liberty Hill's biggest concerns and is part of the reason for the professional development day.
"We don't want our kids to be on the buses any longer than they have to," Washburn said.
Larger school districts are less concerned
Austin Independent School District is taking a different approach to the eclipse.
"I don't expect there'll be a change in our calendar," AISD's Interim Superintendent Matias Segura said.
Instead, Segura said they plan to host special events for their students during the eclipse.
"Anytime that you can bring in a student's lived experience, something that they're going to remember and tie into [the] curriculum... is something that we're absolutely going to support," Segura said.
Other districts, like Marble Falls and Liberty Hill, plan to do their education before the event due to their limited resources.
"We're expecting people from all over the world to come to our small area. So we have to look at the resources that we have and how to best accommodate," Hamilton said.