Dallas ISD’s application period for students who wish to attend a magnet or other choice school or specialty program in 2021-2022 is now open! A district priority is to increase enrollment of Black and English Language Learner students in magnet and choice school programs. The Magnet Schools Application Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Department of Centralized Enrollment and Magnet Programs and the Racial Equity Office (REO), is hosting Community Conversations designed to assist interested students and families with navigating the application process and learning about the new platform Choose Dallas ISD, a one-stop application system that will make it…

Regardless of one’s race, gender or background, everyone has unconscious bias. It’s a fact, says Aaron Joseph, a member of the professional development team conducting teacher training on cultural intelligence (CQ).  “All individuals and all systems have bias,” according to Joseph, who is passionate in his approach to helping educators become more aware of and better able to manage their bias, so they are more effective teaching students from diverse backgrounds. This week, he helped lead a session on the topic for the first cohort of Black male teachers hired as part of the district’s commitment to increase equity and…

As seasonal sports like basketball and soccer begin to ramp up, the Dallas ISD Athletics Department is outlining its spectator guidelines for winter sports, while Dallas County risk levels for COVID-19 remain high. Safety is the guiding principle behind these new measures to help prevent possible transmission among student-athletes, coaching staff, and the greater community. Various spectator levels will limit seating capacities for basketball, soccer, and swimming/diving based on if the county’s current risk level at a given time. Basketball and swimming fans will be limited to only two tickets per uniformed player or coach, and no tickets will be…