New Indian food spot Veranda Bar and Restaurant opening in Leander
Veranda Bar and Restaurant will soon bring fresh Indian recipes to the Leander area.
What they offer: The restaurant will offer a variety of classic Indian staples, including curries, naan, tandoori-baked specialities and a range of vegetarian fare.
What else? The restaurant is set to hold its grand opening Sept. 15, manager Chakradhar Kotta said.
Leander ISD opens new centers for transition services, instructional materials
Leander ISD's Denise Geiger Compass Center has officially opened, welcoming its first class of young adults for the 2025-26 school year.
The center is the new location for LISD's transition services, which serves adults aged 18-22 who qualify for special education services.
Sorting out details: The transition services program focuses on providing adult living and community integration, social and recreational skills and employability skills to its students, serving 140 students each year. Some of the new center's features include:
An outdoor trail
Vocational spaces
An apartment with a full kitchen
Some background: Funding for the center was approved as part of the 2023 bond. In March, the board of trustees voted to name the center after Denise Geiger, an LISD educator of 32 years and senior coordinator of transition services.
One more thing: The compass center is also located next to the new Linda Lippe Instructional Materials Center, which produces ready-made science kits for all of LISD's elementary schools and will offer work-based learning opportunities for compass center students.
Alpha School showcases expedited student learning through artificial intelligence alongside state, federal leaders
Austin-based private school Alpha School is aiming to expedite learning for more students using artificial intelligence at new academies opening across the country.
What happened: On Sept. 9, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visited Alpha School in Austin alongside Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. Alpha School co-founder MacKenzie Price highlighted how the school is using AI to personalize and improve students’ education.
What they're saying:“It's the most exciting thing I've seen in education in a long time,” McMahon said about Alpha School. “I'm incredibly enthusiastic about this.”
How it works: Students complete their academic learning in two hours each day using an AI platform known as 2 Hour Learning. Price said the Alpha School model enables students to learn twice as fast as they would in a traditional school setting.
The update: Alpha School opened several new academies across the United States this school year, including a K-3 school in Plano and K-8 school in Fort Worth. The company is planning to open an academy in Houston this winter.
Cellphone ban, library materials: 8 new Texas laws impacting public schools
When Texas students returned to school in August, some substantial changes awaited them.
The overview:
House Bill 2 increases state funding for public schools by $8.4 billion.
House Bill 1481 prohibits students from using cellphones and other personal communication devices throughout the school day.
Senate Bill 12 requires parental consent for students to receive "medical, psychiatric and psychological treatment" on campus.
Senate Bill 13 gives parents and school boards more oversight of library materials.
House Bill 6 gives teachers more discretion to remove repeatedly disruptive or violent students from class.
Senate Bill 10 requires most schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Senate Bill 11 allows districts to set aside time for students and staff to pray or read religious texts at school.
Senate Bill 965 codifies school employees' rights to "engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty."
The context: The sweeping changes come after lawmakers passed what state leaders have called “transformative” education laws during this year’s regular legislative session, which ended June 2.
