The Leander ISD board of trustees named Chris Clark as acting superintendent during the Dec. 11 board meeting.

The board approved the appointment in a 6-1 vote, with trustee Paul Gauthier casting the dissenting vote. 

The details: Clark is the current deputy superintendent of learning and innovation for LISD. District officials said former superintendent Bruce Gearing will hold a “superintendent emeritus” role for the remainder of the school year in which he will be retired from day-to-day responsibilities but remain in an advisory capacity.

How we got here: Gearing announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year on Dec. 8 after serving the district for six years.

Looking ahead: Per district officials, Clark will hold the position until the board hires a permanent superintendent. A timeline for the superintendent search process has not yet been outlined. 

Following the closure of Fount of Floral, a new flower shop named Éscolatica Floral Atelier & Ancestral Wisdom opened in West Austin this December.

About the owner: Éscolatica Floral Atelier & Ancestral Wisdom is locally owned by Annié Colón-Whorton, who trained in design in Paris, France. She said her shop will be "gently" open through December, with a soft opening in January. 

Check out the top trending Community Impact stories Dec. 8-11. 

1. Dozens of Lake Austin properties move to disannex; city to lose nearly $300M value

2. Buffalo Wild Wings closes its doors in Cedar Park

3. New development to bring almost 400 homes to Georgetown

4. Kudos convenience store heads to Adelton in Bastrop

5. Local police coordination concerns arise for EISD following September incidents

6. $210M state library and archives building underway in Pflugerville

City and state officials gathered Dec. 12 to mark Southwest Airlines' planned expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a day after City Council signed off on a $5.5 million economic incentive deal with the airline.

What's happening: Southwest will add 2,000 local jobs and establish a new crew base at the airport by mid-2027 through the expansion that's also expected to support thousands more related jobs throughout the community. The initiative comes amid ABIA's own facility expansion project, including a second concourse, where Southwest is expected to lease a majority of the new gates to be added.

In addition to Austin's local incentive deal approved Dec. 11, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas will be contributing $14 million to the project at ABIA.