Author: The Hub

The Jazz Singers from Dallas ISD’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts are no foreigners to the stage, but on Thursday, July 23, they will sing one of jukebox hero Foreigner’s most famous songs alongside the band. Foreigner and the Grammy Foundation have partnered to help raise money for high school music programs across the country, an urgent need. At every concert, a local high school choir is chosen to sing “I Want To Know What Love Is” live with members of the rock band. Booker T’s Jazz Singers, led by Kent Ellingson, will perform…

With its successful offering of $75 million in bonds earlier this month, the Dallas Independent School District was able to obtain funds for repairing, equipping and replacing existing school facilities while saving taxpayer money. The proceeds from bond financing, known as Multi-Modal Limited Maintenance Tax Notes, will finance some of the improvements outlined in the $148 million Interim Bridge Plan approved in March by the Board of Trustees. Potential improvements under the full plan include classroom and campus renovations, heating and air conditioning system improvements, and the renovation of instructional and instructional support facilities. Due to its strong financial position,…

In late March, the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees approved a plan to invest approximately $148 million into addressing critical needs at district schools. In August, four new schools funded by the Bridge Plan, as it is called, will open or reopen to students. Ed Levine, Dallas ISD executive director of Construction Services, said the district has been diligently working to adhere to the aggressive construction schedule that will open or reopen the four schools less than five months after trustees passed the Bridge Plan. “It is taking a lot of work, but the schools will be ready for students…

In just four short years, Adan Gonzalez has journeyed a long way from the halls of W.H. Adamson High School, where he served as president of his senior class and the Dallas ISD Teen Board. When AlumNow, a Hub feature that checks in with district alumni to see where they are now, caught up with him, Gonzalez was traveling to Washington, D.C. to receive the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, which is just one of the many accomplishments he’s racked up over the years. A short time later, he was dining with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. While he has traveled many miles along…

TV commercials are starting to feature back to school clothing ads, a sure sign that the 2015 school year is just around the corner. With just over a month until students start school on Aug. 24, the annual rush to get kids ready for the new school year has officially begun. In anticipation, the organizers of the Dallas Mayor’s Back to School Fair are gearing up for the city’s largest one-day school supply distribution effort on Aug. 7, from 8 a.m.—2 p.m., at Dallas Fair Park. The annual event is a welcome bonanza for thousands of cash-strapped parents looking for all…

About 67,000 Dallas ISD students are designated as English Language Learners, those who do not natively speak English. That represents more than 40 percent of the district’s total student population of 160,000 students. This week, Dallas ISD English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers are taking time out from summer break to better prepare for the coming school year. For the first time, a special training designed to address challenges unique to their classrooms. The training, conducted at Sam Tasby Middle School, included guest experts who presented information to attendees. Tuesday morning’s first session focused on how social-emotional learning affects…

How does the brain acquire language? What are some best practices to help learners become proficient in a new language, whether the language is English, Spanish, or even Japanese? Dallas ISD’s World Languages and Bilingual/ESL departments will explore these questions and provide teachers and administrators with new tools and the latest research in language learning at their first-ever Language Acquisition Symposium, which is July 29 and 30. Conference organizers say the need is greater than ever to employ more effective methods to help learners acquire languages. If students are to successfully compete in a global marketplace, they will need to become…

Dallas ISD parents and students can learn about new student registration, school hours, meal information, and more on the Back to School homepage that launched July 20. Click here to view the Back to School homepage. Aug. 24 is the first day of school for students.

Turn trash into crafts! Kids can paint empty egg cartons his or her favorite color and store small items such as beads or neat rocks. Paper or Styrofoam egg cartons can be used to hold paint for art projects, too. Or plant your very own miniature garden! Use each well to plant seeds that grow flowers or herbs.

This week, 150 Dallas ISD teachers will attend a professional development training at Southern Methodist University’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education. Dallas ISD covered each teacher’s $3,000 tuition to attend the three-week-long intensive training, which is designed to help teachers based on their Teacher Excellence Initiative effectiveness rating. The teachers in attendance at the SMU Teacher Academy will be introduced to curriculum focused on increasing classroom effectiveness and improving classroom instructional practice within cohorts based on each educator’s TEI teacher effectiveness level. “The idea is that this is differentiated support for teachers that takes them from where they are, what…