Author: The Hub

To celebrate that they are ready for the STAAR exams that begin today, students and staff at Martha Turner Reilly Elementary put together a fun “Pass the Test” music video last week. The music video is a take off on the song “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift. Martha Turner Reilly Elementary is located at 11230 Lippitt Ave. Enjoy the music video above!

Student engagement and an innovative entrepreneurship curriculum is what makes W. E. Greiner Middle School teacher Stephen Thomas’ Principles of Business, Marketing and Finance classroom so effective. Thomas is part of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s North Texas program, which provides business education to young students while earning high school credit. Out of 17 North Texas educators, Thomas was chosen to represent Texas at the 2015 Global Enterprising Educator of the Year Award sponsored by MasterCard. Ernst and Young sponsored a “send-off” party earlier this month for Thomas, who accepted the award March 25 at the NFTE 2015 Global Showcase in New…

Rock STAARs were out in force Friday afternoon at Martin Weiss Elementary. The school at 8601 Willoughby Blvd. held a pep rally to get its third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders excited and motivated for the next week’s STAAR exams. And, since the pep rally’s theme was Be a Rock STAAR, teachers and students wore bright wigs, sunglasses, headbands, and other outfits worthy of a red carpet. “The idea behind the pep rally is that, at this point, we have done a whole lot of work to make sure our students are ready for their STAAR exams,” Weiss Principal Shundra Brown…

The Dallas ISD Board of Trustees honored accomplishments of students and staff at its regular meeting on March 26, 2015. • Seagoville High School’s Academic Decathlon team took first place in the Region XII Medium School Division Academic Decathlon Competition and represented Dallas ISD at the state competition earlier this year in San Antonio. • The School of Science and Engineering’s Academic Decathlon team took first place in the Region XII Large School Division Academic Decathlon Competition and represented Dallas ISD at the state competition earlier this year in San Antonio. • Skyline High School’s Mock Trial team won first place in the 36th…

Superintendent Mike Miles detailed district goals, accomplishments, and challenges during last night’s presentation of the 2015–16 District Action Plan to board members. Citing the positive momentum generated from the district’s major initiatives, Miles told board members that the district plans to largely stay the course in the 2015–16 school year. He said the draft Accelerated Campus Excellence (ACE) Plan, which would incentivize effective teachers to voluntarily relocate and work at struggling district schools, is the main planned new initiative next school year. Miles briefed board members on the top 10 staff accomplishments of the 2014–15 school year. The accomplishments include:…

Eddie Garza has nearly 200 reasons to avoid eating meat at every meal. During a presentation to the Dallas ISD Menu Advisory Committee on Wednesday, March 25, he showed a photo of himself as a more than 300-pound college student. Once he made the choice to put more fruit and vegetables on his plate, his health improved significantly and the extra weight came off. His visit was part of the district’s unveiling of its Lean & Green initiative during a monthly meeting to learn more about Food and Child Nutrition Services’ offerings. Staff, students and parents had the chance to…

CBS DFW spotlighted the incredible partnership of North Dallas High Wrestling Coach Billingsley and Kymber’Lynn Jackson, the first female in Dallas ISD to bring home the UIL state wrestling championship title. Click here to view the full heartwarming report.

On March 19, the district recognized more than 1,000 students in 7th–10th grades who have demonstrated academic excellence. The students invited to the 2014–15 Dallas ISD Scholars Recognition Ceremony scored in the 95th percentile on state exams or at a college-ready level on national exams. At the event, the students received pens commemorating their achievement. Watch the above video to learn more.

Representatives from more than 20 district departments gathered on Tuesday to discuss the importance of recognizing employees that consistently perform their duties with excellence. The focus group was a part of Communication Services’ plan to formalize the district’s process for recognizing employee excellence. Approximately 50 employees from departments such as Risk Management, Accounting Services, Truancy, and Health Services agreed that employee recognition improves the work climate and makes staff feel valued. The tenure of the employees taking part in the focus groups ranged from four months to more than 25 years. Like many who attended the focus group, Keyla Kirton,…