Author: The Hub

The annual Beeping Egg Hunt for Blind and Visually Impaired Students happened Thursday, April 2, at Flag Pole Hill near White Rock Lake. The event, coordinated by the Dallas ISD Special Education Vision Department, uses special eggs that emit beeps to allow visually impaired students to find them more easily. Other activities for the students included cookie-decorating, basket-making and a petting zoo. Watch the video above to learn more.

Part of being a good friend is being fair. Fairness promotes healthy social/emotional health and well-being.  Remember what it means to be fair: Playing by the rules; taking turns and sharing; being open-minded and listening to others; not taking advantage of others; not blaming others carelessly; and treating all people fairly. For more information, click here.

Earnest Brown is a long-time volunteer for Dallas ISD. Since he started volunteering in 1996 at Frazier Elementary, Brown has dedicated 19 years of volunteer service to the district. Brown says he is ready to help the Dunbar faculty and staff in any capacity they need, and that working with the student scholars is the most rewarding part of volunteering. Other volunteer duties include assisting with gym coaches and monitoring hallways. His motivation for volunteering stems from his special education teacher, Melva Gibbs, at James Madison High School, who told him he had the will to do great things in life.…

The Dallas Independent School District is taking the first step today in launching the Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) initiative, which aims to equip campuses where students are struggling academically with strong leaders and teams of highly effective teachers. Six schools that have previously been designated by the Texas Education Agency as Improvement Required schools have been selected to be part of the ACE program during the 2015-16 school year. The schools are: Annie Webb Blanton Elementary Roger Q. Mills Elementary Elisha M. Pease Elementary Umphrey Lee Elementary Thomas A. Edison Middle Learning Center Sarah Zumwalt Middle School. All six schools…

The Dallas ISD Superintendent’s Scholarship Run, set for May 16 is a good cause for anyone looking to support deserving high school seniors. Proceeds from the run will benefit the Superintendent’s Scholarship Fund, which has provided more than $2 million in scholarships to almost a thousand district seniors since 2000. The run, which will begin and end at Woodrow Wilson High School, will be a family-friendly event for runners, walkers, and even spectators, so it’s definitely a worthy cause. But what’s that you say: you’re not a runner? Well, this event could serve as the perfect incentive to kick off your…

Between 2009–10 and 2013–14, the number of career certifications received by district students rose from 177 to 1,683, an increase of more than 850 percent. And with increasing the number of Career and Technical Education (CTE) certifications a goal of Destination 2020, the district’s plan to raise student achievement for all students, Richard Grimsley, Dallas ISD director of career education and workforce partnerships, said the aim is that students earn 4,000 CTE certificates by 2020. Specialized CTE courses are offered at every Dallas ISD middle and high school. The courses, which range from horticulture to automotive tech and cosmetology, give student an opportunity…

A caped-crusader stopped by Highland Meadows Elementary School to enlist students to help save the Earth from the evils of pollution and wasteful habits. Among Mr. Eco’s environmentally conscious rap songs was encouragement to avoid single-use water bottles with “Bottles are for Babies” and to be kind and respectful of animals as “Wildlife Warriors.” He urged students to recycle with “Recycle Robot” and deputized them to be Eco Heroes with the “Ecohero Anthem.” His visit helped kick off Earth Month, which is 30 days of raising awareness about what individuals can do to make a positive global impact on the…

The sultry sounds of the alto saxophone is what made dozens of ears perk up, while finger snaps (an artful expression of applause) filled the room during a recent performance by the Bryan Adams High School’s Jazz Ensemble on March 28. For nearly two decades, aspiring jazz artists have gathered for the Dallas Music Educators Association Jazz Festival hosted at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center campus. The DMEA Jazz Fest has cultivated many successful musicians, including many of the band directors who have come back to teach within Dallas ISD. This year, 15 jazz bands across Dallas ISD featured…

As students this week take the STAAR exam, campus test coordinators have a new resource—five, to be exact—to help the process go as smooth as possible. Dallas ISD this year has five new districtwide testing coordinators who are on call to help the campus test coordinators at every school. The campus test coordinators are encouraged to call the districtwide testing coordinators, each of which is assigned to one of the five district divisions, with any question regarding the administration of the test, from test security to online test setup. Previously, there was only one specialist to support more than 200…

Dallas Morning News spotlighted a film by Francheska Johnson and Jamichael Morgan, freshmen at Dallas ISD’s Lincoln High School and Communications/Humanities Magnet, that is screening next week at a film festival. The Blue Ribbon, the students’ film, is about a destructive relationship between a father and daughter after the death of their wife and mother. The film is screening as part of the North Texas High School Shorts at the Dallas International Film Festival. The screening is scheduled for April 12 at 4 p.m. at Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2001 N. Field St. To read the great Dallas Morning News profile,…