Pleasant Grove is set to get what could be a first-of-its-kind school: a Two-Way Dual-Language Vanguard/Academy for Gifted and Talented students. Trustees unanimously approved the new school during their Dec. 14 meeting. The school will serve students in grades 4–8 and feature native English and native Spanish speakers learning each others’ languages through a Gifted and Talented curriculum. “We are bringing this proposal to expand opportunities and innovation for students in every sector of our city,” Chief of School Leadership Stephanie Elizalde said. The school will start in the 2018–2019 school year by serving up to 198 students in eight…

Dallas ISD trustees unanimously voted Dec. 14 to approve changing the names of three district campuses named after Confederate generals. Each school established committees made of teachers, parents and administrators to determine the new names for the campuses. The schools that will change their names are: Robert E. Lee Elementary School will become Geneva Heights Elementary School; William L. Cabell Elementary School will become Chapel Hill Preparatory; Stonewall Jackson Elementary School will become Mockingbird Elementary School. Meanwhile, Albert Sidney Johnston Elementary School is set to receive a new name by February. The new names for the schools will go into…

Ask Terry Stotts about his job as the construction and technology teacher at the Multiple Career Magnet High School, and his eyes light up. Stotts could spend hours talking about all the reasons he loves his job teaching practical skills to students with special needs in Dallas ISD. But, by far, his favorite part of the job comes in December when his students give away the rocking horses they spent the first part of the year building by hand. This year was no different, and Stotts smiled widely as his students gave away their rocking horses on Dec. 14 to…

A couple of decades ago, when they were teachers, Danielle Petters encouraged and mentored Laura Garza at the campus where they worked. On Wednesday, Dec. 13, the two shared time in the spotlight as Dallas ISD’s 2017 Principals of the Year. Garza, principal at Annie Webb Blanton Elementary School, said being a finalist with Petters means a lot to her. “Twenty years ago, she took me under her wing,” Garza said. “She’s the reason I’m still in education.” She also credited her mother, who was in attendance at the luncheon. “She is the reason I can do all this,” Garza…