Inside Dallas ISD

Dallas ISD’s Visual & Performing Arts Department is proud to announce that Dallas ISD has been awarded the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Best Communities for Music Education Award for the second year in a row. The NAMM Foundation’s Best Communities for Music Education Award is a signature program of the NAMM Foundation that recognizes and celebrates school districts for their support and commitment to music education and efforts to assure access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education. This year, NAMM asked all submitting districts to share their stories and experiences of how instruction…

Antonio and Sandra Verduzco have been part of Dallas ISD for 53 years combined as district students and employees. Both raised in Oak Cliff, they attended schools on opposite sides of the district. Antonio is a Class of ’93 Skyline graduate, having spent his early years in Dallas ISD at Nancy J. Cochran Elementary, T.W. Browne and W.H. Atwell middle schools. Sandra started her education in México, where she was born. She arrived in Dallas, speaking no English, at the age of 9 and attended L.P. Cowart Elementary, then L.V. Stockard Middle School, graduating from Sunset High School in 1997.…

While getting his masters at Texas Southern University, Christopher Barksdale witnessed first-hand the power of a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). “The education experience, pride, and mentoring, at an HBCU is like nothing else,” Barksdale said. “Being able to see and learn from others who look like myself has truly paved the way for me to get to where I am today.” Today Barksdale is set to lead a new secondary school seeking International Baccalaureate candidacy that Dallas ISD and Paul Quinn College, an HBCU, are partnering together to launch in southern Dallas. Barksdale, who has most recently served…

In 2019 Jonathan Lopez made a big switch from working in commercial refrigeration to teaching Dual Language Principles of Construction and HVAC 1 at the North Dallas Career Institute. After graduating from Townview School of Business in 2014, Lopez attended a trade school and got his degree in air conditioning and then started his career in the field working in commercial refrigeration and residential HVAC. While Lopez loved the day-to-day variety of his commercial refrigeration job, he saw the opportunity to teach at a career institute as a no-brainer.  “I wanted to give back to the community and I wanted…