Inside Dallas ISD

In the more than 20 years Yatta Johnson—a licensed mental health clinician—has worked as a school psychologist, she has played many roles but perhaps none more crucial as the one she has now at Emmett J. Conrad High School. Every day, she connects with students, guides them through difficult times and helps them better understand themselves and others. Johnson is one of several school psychologists in Dallas ISD, and thousands throughout the country, whose work is celebrated and highlighted through Nov. 10 during National School Psychology Week. “I’m a non-traditional school psychologist because my degree is in mental health counseling psychology and…

Dallas ISD Library and Media Services has been working for two years on Project R.E.A.D., and since last spring, there have been almost weekly launches of libraries with schools posting their ribbon cuttings and school celebrations on social media. Project R.E.A.D. is a library redesign initiative—whose acronym stands for research, exploration, application and design—is intended to increase students’ interests in the arts and design, deepen their knowledge of coding, hone their speaking and presentation skills using digital broadcasts, and increase their critical thinking skills through research and collaboration. Approximately 80 schools were scheduled to undergo this redesign.The project has been…

As the world continues to become more dependent on technology, more and more learning is taking place online. Education is catching up, and Dallas ISD’s Educational Technology Department is leading the effort to meet the technological demands of evolving educational opportunities with a new tech hub. “As we recognized the need to modernize technology at our campuses, we chose Frederick Douglass Elementary School as a technology incubator,” said Jon Hurley, assistant superintendent of Technology—Architecture and Operations. The work done at the school will serve as a guide for future technology upgrades in other areas of the district. As part of…

The last designated fall semester professional development day for campus Dallas ISD team members will take place remotely on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Campuses will be closed that day, and non-teaching employees will receive instructions from their supervisors or departments about training modules. Nov. 7 will be a regular workday for central employees on work calendars 226 or more work days. Campus exempt employees will have through Nov. 7 to complete the remote training modules designated by their principals, which will combine asynchronous and live virtual modules. Non-exempt employees will need to earn eight hours of comp time from Oct. 1-31…