Inside Dallas ISD

After donating enough desks, chairs, conference tables and lamps to fill 16 trucks to Skyline High School, the leadership of Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem) toured the country’s first magnet high school on Monday. While touring the school, OxyChem President B.J. Hebert said he was impressed by the many different types of classes and programs offered at Skyline High School. He said he immediately thought of Skyline High School when OxyChem had excess furniture to donate after moving to a new office. “We believe it’s critical to partner with and support schools such as Skyline High School since they are educating…

It was a busy week for Dallas ISD’s Sudie L. Williams Talented & Gifted Academy. After having an open house to showcase the school’s programs to prospective families on Wednesday, Nov. 7, the campus hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially dedicate the school’s new direction on Friday, Nov. 9. That evening, the school had its Fall Carnival – complete with a haunted house. But that level of activity appears to be par for the course at a place where there’s always much to do, see and learn. Opened in 1952, Sudie Williams was a traditional elementary school and became a…

Dozens of people showed up Thursday night for the opening of a special student-led photography exhibit featuring amazing shots of Dallas. The reception at Polk-Wisdom Library honored the fifth-grade students from T.L. Marsalis Elementary School who took part “Our Community” project. Students were responsible for capturing an aspect of their community in a photo, and art teacher Jihan Mitchell had the photos professionally developed for the students at no cost. The best photos were selected for the exhibit. “By photographing their community, the students get to see the beauty that is around them every day that they might otherwise not…

Dallas ISD’s Arlington Park Early Childhood Center may be the district’s smallest campus, but that’s OK because its students are also among the smallest. The school is the only one in the district to serve pre-kindergarten students exclusively. It opened in August and currently accommodates 103 pint-sized 3- and 4-year-old students in its all-day program. On Tuesday, Nov. 6, staff, students, parents and community members officially dedicated the new facility. Principal Enrique Escobedo, who also leads nearby Obadiah Knight Elementary School, said it takes a special kind of teacher to spend the day with 3-year-olds: someone who is patient, humane…