Dealing with an emergency situation like the Ebola virus can be unsettling, to say the least. The stress alone can have serious effects on one’s mental and emotional well-being. To help Dallas ISD teachers cope, medical staff from Children’s Health spent time visiting each of the affected schools to talk with teachers and answer questions about the virus. “Our goal was to give everyone the facts—what we know and what we don’t know about Ebola,” said Dr. Angela Moemeka, Community Health vice president and medical director at Children’s Health. “This virus is relatively hard to catch. Unless you are exposed…

It was day two of easing concerns for students, staff and parents across the district and at Dan D. Rogers Elementary School, Principal Lisa Lovato says today was just another day. “For us to remain one collaborative unit for our students and to show them that it’s business as usual today,” Lovato said. She says what helped was the amount of resources provided from the district and better understanding from outside organizations. “We had a doctor from Children’s Medical Center come out and they actually were able to explain the Ebola virus and give us some understanding of it,” Lovato…

As an educational institution, student safety is the top priority of Dallas ISD. Recently, allegations were made that Dallas ISD does not have completed background checks for all employees. Upon learning of the allegations, the district immediately initiated its own review of the fingerprinting and background check records. In addition, as the Texas Education Agency (TEA) also received the allegations, TEA announced that it was initiating a review of the district’s employee background check records. A week and half ago, Dallas ISD conducted an internal review of background check records for all of its more than 20,000 current employees. The…