The Dallas ISD purchased 50 multi-passenger vehicles to transport nearly 3,000 students on routes that do not require full-size school buses for use beginning the first day of school, Monday, Aug. 25. The new vehicles allow more efficient transportation routes with fewer students in the upcoming school year. “This is just a better option to transport children,” said Wanda Paul, chief operating officer of the Dallas ISD. “We want to make sure we transport students safely and efficiently. After the challenges we experienced last year, we were committed to coming up with a better way to service our students. The…

In preparation for the 2014-2015 school year, the Dallas Independent School District has filled more than 99 percent of its teaching positions, its lowest percentage ever prior to a school year. As of August 23, Dallas ISD had only 25 open teaching positions available in its 224 schools, which amounts to less than one percent of its more than 10,000 member teacher workforce. In comparison, there were approximately 860 teacher vacancies at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year and more than 300 vacancies at this time last year. To break the cycle of having far too many vacancies on…