Inside Dallas ISD

You might have already seen a recent TV commercial making the rounds for the newly redesigned Ford Expedition SUV, but take a close look at some of the teens featured. View the commercial here. Some of them are members of the Townview “Big D” Band, comprising students who attend magnet schools at Dallas ISD’s Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center. “The casting director was looking for a teacher who had a great impact in the music field,” said Dean Hill, longtime director of the Big D Band. The band got attention, he said, because of the many videos students and parents…

Harry Stone Montessori Academy celebrate the Chinese New Year with a fantastic performance from the Chua Phap Quang Lion Dance Team. The dance team performed traditional Chinese New Year music dances to the delight of students. Harry Stone, an International Baccalaureate World School, spent the entire week building up to the performance, with traditional decorations from the Chinese New Year covering the campus. The Harry Stone PTA cosponsored the great event.

Teachers at David G. Burnet Elementary School were confused at first when students kept coming to them asking for extra assignments. Turns out, the students were part of the “100’s Club,” an after-school program at the campus that motivates students to get perfect scores on assignments, tests and attendance. “The club is having a noticeable positive impact on our students’ grades and performance,” said Mrs. Johnson, who runs the club along with Alejandra Romo, a recreation program specialist with the City of Dallas. Every month the students in the club set a goal for how many 100s they will get…

A new sensory room at Rosemont Primary is helping students with special needs unwind. With the support of Rosemont’s Parent Teacher Association and Dad’s Club, Special Education teacher Sarah Contreras helped make the sensory room a reality to benefit the students. “This is an outlet for our students to release some of that sensory overload or take in some of that sensory that they might need,” Contreras said. A ribbon cutting on Feb. 16 saw members of the PTA, Dad’s Club and Trustee Audrey Pinkerton celebrate the new sensory room. As students laughed and played in the ball pit, trampoline and…