TxDOT preps school zone flashers

Aug. 18, 2026

By Victoria Lara

DALLAS — Students are back in the classroom, teachers have settled into new routines and school zones across Texas are once again flashing to life each day.

What most drivers don't see is the weeks of work that happened behind the scenes to make sure those flashers are ready before the first bell rings.

In TxDOT’s Dallas District, that responsibility falls largely to one person, Traffic Signal Technician Tyler Prestien, who programs school zone flashers for more than 200 schools and school districts across North Texas.

From a single workstation, he reviews school calendars and updates flasher schedules to ensure they activate at the correct times throughout the school year.

It’s a tedious process, but one that’s come a long way from the system in place a decade ago.

"They actually had to physically go to each school flasher and type in school hours for each day and holidays," Prestien said.

Today, technology allows those updates to be made from a centralized system. Once school districts finalize their calendars, Prestien spends several weeks reviewing schedules and preparing the updates that he’ll direct to flashers across the district.

With hundreds of schools and districts to consider, no two calendars look exactly alike.

"They all do them differently," Prestien said. "So, I have to figure out their system, to fit our system."

The work requires careful attention to start dates, holidays, early release days and other schedule variations before information can be loaded into the system. By the time students arrive on campus, however, that work is largely invisible. School zone flashers simply turn on when they're supposed to, signaling drivers to slow down and stay alert around schools.

For Prestien, that's the goal.

"The biggest point is just making sure kids don't get hurt," he said.

Most drivers will never see the planning and coordination that happens before a school zone flasher. But across Texas, that behind-the-scenes effort helps keep hundreds of school zones operating on schedule throughout the school year.

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