Inside Dallas ISD

As the district moves to the beat of opportunity in classrooms throughout the district, one department is creating opportunities for students to grow, explore their interests and develop life skills outside the classroom. By providing students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities, Student Activities is improving the overall educational experience of Dallas ISD students. Director of Student Activities Leonidas Patterson believes the department’s theme for this year—Stay the course—communicates its singular focus on the district’s priority of making sure that all students have the opportunity to get involved in at least one extracurricular or co-curricular activity each year. “I…

Principal Monica Marquez has spent the majority of her career at Louise W. Kahn Elementary School, as a teacher when it opened and then working to become an academic coordinator, assistant principal, and now principal of her home campus. It was during her time as a third-grade teacher that she first met student Selene Ramos—who is now assistant principal at Kahn Elementary. “Selene was very talkative and always came dressed to the nines,” Marquez said. “She was a good student who was always a go-getter wanting to help others, and that really has not changed in the 20 years we’ve…

Closing the gap and making mental and physical healthcare accessible to students in the South Oak Cliff High School feeder pattern is what the district strives to accomplish with the addition of the new T.D. Marshall Youth and Family Center at Clara Oliver. The facility is scheduled to open next month and have an official ribbon cutting on Sept. 26. “The T.D. Marshall Youth and Family Center will fill in a huge gap in the southern sector of town where mental and physical healthcare services are minimal, and we are looking forward to providing these services to our students and…

Dena Dutchover has been with Dallas ISD for almost a decade, and in her current post as coordinator in Risk Management, she is one of the team members who is tasked with  identifying potential risks and mitigating their effects before they occur. Dallas ISD’s Risk Management Department is a part of Financial Services and is responsible for the identification, evaluation, treatment, and monitoring of the district’s operational risks. Dutchover works on such projects as unemployment claims filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, vendor insurance, and driving safety. For the Risk Management team, identifying potential risks and mitigating their effects before…