Inside Dallas ISD

On the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 20 tornado that destroyed his campus, causing the relocation of the school to Tom Field Elementary, Walnut Hill Elementary Principal Phillip Potter recounts how his staff was fundamental in rebuilding trust during the transition period to their temporary campus. What do you celebrate on this anniversary? I celebrate that we have a great school culture and that we have great people in Walnut Hill Elementary, and that’s really what’s made this work.  We definitely feel like we’ve been through a lot of challenges, but the process has gone well. Our teachers and staff…

Tornadoes destroyed three Northwest Dallas schools on Oct. 20, 2019. In a matter of days, the students and staff from the displaced campuses were reassigned to existing Dallas ISD buildings. Walnut Hill Elementary moved operations to Tom Field Elementary School. Students from Cary Middle School were split into Franklin and Medrano middle schools. And Thomas Jefferson High took over the Thomas Edison Learning Center complex. In January, the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved a plan to renovate Thomas Jefferson High School and build a new consolidated pre-K through eighth-grade campus to replace Walnut Hill Elementary School and Cary…

Quontinetta “Q” Bufford is no stranger to hard work and perseverance. She was a Culinary Arts student at Skyline High School with a talent for volleyball when she found out she was pregnant at 16-years-old.  “Failure was not an option for me,” said Bufford. Through the help of her family, teammates, coaches, teachers, and Skyline’s culture of excellence, she stayed on track with her education while balancing life as a new mom. Bufford graduated from Skyline High School in 2003 and started her pursuit of higher education through Dallas College (formerly DCCCD), playing volleyball for Cedar Valley and winning a…

Dallas ISD continues to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month as a wonderful opportunity to honor the rich Hispanic culture thriving in our district and embrace the diverse communities that represent us. Syeed Pickett is one of many Dallas ISD students enrolled in the dual-language program where he has learned how to speak, write and read Spanish. As a district, we strive to ensure all students are given the opportunity to develop stronger cognitive and academic skills by working side-by-side with individuals of various cultures and backgrounds. Pickett first began his foreign language journey at the age of four with Spanish…