Inside Dallas ISD

Nineteen Dallas ISD seniors will have an easier time affording college thanks to scholarships provided by the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce Business Development Corporation. The chamber has been providing the Excellence in Education Scholarships to deserving students since 1986. The scholarships provide $2,000 to students for their freshman year attending a four-year college or $1,400 to students for their first year attending a Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) campus. A ceremony on April 30 celebrated the recipients of the chamber’s scholarships. The ceremony also presented the second annual Leadership in Education Award to four education leaders, including Dallas…

Two Dallas ISD schools placed in a robotics world championship held in Kentucky on April 30. Casa View Elementary School won the CREATE award and Winnetka Elementary School won third-place in teamwork in their division at the VEX IQ Robotics World Championship. Dallas Environmental Science Academy, Alex Sanger Elementary School, Onesimo Hernandez Elementary School, and George Bannerman Dealey Middle School also competed at the event. Competitive robotics helps to foster interest and awareness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It also supports the district’s goal of ensuring each student is involved in at least one extracurricular activity.

The science lesson in Malcolm Finkley’s class at D.A. Hulcy STEAM Middle School was delicious. “It’s like ‘bootleg Blue Bell,’ bro!” one student declared. “This is like the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” a classmate agreed. The recipe for success on this particular day included milk, heavy cream, sugar, rock salt, 3 cups of ice and either vanilla, strawberry or chocolate flavoring to make ice cream. Once combined into plastic bags, students had to mix the concoctions until they froze into ice cream. Students learned about the importance of getting the quantities just right, as Finkley purposely altered the formula…

It’s a bright idea whose time has come: retrofit outdated and dim T12 fluorescent light fixtures with more effective, longer-lasting and energy-efficient LED lamps. Dallas ISD’s W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy is undergoing the transformation now, with the project starting April 2 and expected to be complete by May 26. The District’s Electrical Maintenance team is performing the work after school and on weekends, which saves money over using outside contractors and prevents interruptions to instructional time. At Greiner, there are 3,900 lamps that will be replaced, at a total cost of $79,000. That includes classrooms, the cafeteria, locker rooms,…