Inside Dallas ISD

Mata parents who attend open lunch this year will find a new addition in the cafeteria: Mata teachers. For the last three years, most teachers have eaten lunch separately during their students’ 30-minute lunch period, but this year all teachers are joining their classes at cafeteria tables as an extension of Montessori Grace and Courtesy lessons. These are “simply the common human pleasantries we often take for granted, assuming that children will acquire them as they grow,” says Mata Montessori instructional coach John Hutcheson, known around Mata as Mr. John. “[Maria] Montessori understood that unless these behaviors are appreciated, taught…

Norma Wright, a counselor at Billy Earl Dade Middle School, is one of five finalists for the Lone Star State School Counselor Association School Counselor of the Year program. The program honors the best of the best in Texas: school counselors who are running a top-notch, comprehensive school counseling program at either the elementary, middle or high school level. This year’s school counselor of the year candidates completed an extensive application process and were judged by a panel of counseling professionals on multiple criteria, including school counseling innovations, effective school counseling programs, leadership skills, and contributions to student achievement. There…

To celebrate National School Lunch Week, cafeteria teams at multiple schools rocked out and showed off their dance moves. See for yourself in the above video!

Spend the next 63 seconds catching up on many of the great things that happened across the district this week! Watch the above video, or read below, to learn more. Principal for a Day Principal for a Day brought more than 175 business and community leaders from the private sector into Dallas ISD schools (learn more). Books for elementary schools Thanks to a donation from AT&T, each Dallas ISD elementary school will receive two copies of a children’s book written by state Rep. Jason Villalba (learn more). Thanks to custodial workers! National Custodial Workers’ Recognition Day was this week, and it was…