Author: The Hub

(Updated March 11, 1:27 p.m.) Dallas ISD Interim Principal Bert Hart has sent the following letter to Lakewood Elementary staff and community members stating that third-party environmental tests of the school all came back normal. Below is the letter: Dear Lakewood Staff and Community, Thank you for your continued attention to the health concerns at Lakewood Elementary School. In recent weeks, we have communicated with you about various environmental and building testing performed as a result of those concerns. This is an update on the findings we received from our third-party vendor of the testing performed at our campus. After a…

Trustees and Dallas ISD leadership say the seven district collegiate academies and P-TECH opening in August won’t just be a game changer for the schools and surrounding community. The program could have a noticeable positive impact on the entire city. The collegiate academies, which will apply to become early college high schools in December, will allow high school students, at no cost to them, to earn up to 60 hours of college credit or an associate’s degree. The collegiate academies will be “schools within schools,” meaning they will be a separate program inside existing high schools. “This will have a profoundly…

Dan Micciche of Dallas ISD was among a group of school board members gathering in Corpus Christi February 25—27 to learn the latest on 21st century challenges to leadership and the implications of those trends for educators. Session theme for this, the third of five training sessions of Leadership TASB (LTASB), was “Where Leadership Happens through Embracing Change.” Trustees began activities Thursday with a tour of Driscoll ISD, a K-8 district that is completing its first building project in more than 30 years. Driscoll ISD is a Texas Education Agency (TEA) Recognized district that remains committed to small class size…

Dallas ISD’s Food and Child Nutrition Services (FCNS) is blending up a tasty, new menu item for all high school campuses. Smoothies are now apart of the breakfast offerings to choose from. The healthy snack was available to sample on Friday, March 11 during a taste-test at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. The event also brought in top food administration executives from the USDA and a delegation of USDA regional leaders from the Texas Food Administration joined students for breakfast. Lillian Salerno, USDA rural development deputy undersecretary, was excited to take part in the…

As part of Dallas ISD’s effort to provide choices for families, the district has been expanding its two-way dual-language program, which helps prepare students for success in the global workforce. Here is what to know about the two-way dual-language program. What is a two-way dual-language program? A two-way dual-language program puts Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students in the same classroom, teaches them the same curriculum in both languages, and creates bilingual, bicultural and biliterate students. Over the course of a day in a two-way dual-language classroom, Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students are taught together certain subjects (such as science) in Spanish and…

Dallas ISD on March 8 released the following statement to staff regarding the William H. Cotton Building: Dear Staff: We wanted to make you aware of information that has recently come to us regarding the water sources at the William H. Cotton Building located on Lamar Street. In late January 2016, district officials requested EFI Global, an environmental health and safety firm, to test the facility’s water. On Monday, March 7, the district received the findings of the report, which concluded that some of the water sources at the Cotton Building are non-potable. The Cotton Building serves as a work…

For Wilmer-Hutchins High School juniors Paloma Quiroga and Jeremy Tezano, three years of dedication to the Culinary Arts program is helping them cook up something special. On Feb. 20, eight student teams from five Dallas ISD high schools competed in the Cooking up Change culinary competition sponsored by the Healthy Schools Campaign. As the first place team, Quiroga and Tezano earned an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. in June to compete in the national competition against other high school culinary teams from around the country. Quiroga and Tezano’s accomplishments have made them the CW 33 Class Acts of the…

The Lincoln High School Tigers boys basketball team will compete this Friday in the 4A state semi-finals in San Antonio. The Tigers (22-14) will take on LaMarque (33-8) at 3 p.m. at the San Antonio Aladome. Viewers can watch the game by tuning into Time Warner Cable Channel 323, or online via the National Federation of State High Schools Association’s website or app with a subscription. As 11-4A district, area and regional champs, this is the Lincoln boys basketball team’s first trip to state in 12 years. Its last semifinal appearance was in 2004, when Lincoln faced at two-point loss to Houston…

Dallas ISD is holding more than 10 public meetings to provide information and receive feedback on the proposed 2016–17 budget. All budget sessions are from 6–7:30 p.m. The meetings are: March 8 Arthur Kramer Elementary School, 7131 Midbury Dr. Dan D. Rogers Elementary School, 5314 Abrams Road March 9 Robert T. Hill Middle School, 505 Easton Road Seagoville Middle School, 950 Woody Road Eduardo Mata Elementary School, 7420 La Vista Dr. March 22 Billy Earl Dade Middle School, 2727 Al Lipscomb Way John Q. Adams Elementary School, 8239 Lake June Road March 23 Raul Quintanilla Sr. Middle School, 2700 Remond…

The bright, mid afternoon sunshine slices through thick black curtains. The warm light bathes a group of 30 teens sitting on the floor, each with a script in hand. There is fidgeting and giggling as concentration ebbs and flows like an unpredictable wind that intermittently picks up steam. It’s Tuesday at Marsh Preparatory Academy and Wendy Powell’s advanced drama class is taking first stabs at reading The Outsiders. The roles are just mapped and the classic play, still relevant and controversial decades after its debut, is fresh for these budding actors. The advanced drama class, consisting of seasoned Big Thought…