Inside Dallas ISD

Community Liaisons Monica Zumaya from W.W. Samuell High School and Elsa Cardenas from Ann Richards Middle School attended Judge Faith Johnson and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office–Family Violence Division’s annual open house on Friday, Oct. 6. During the open house, Ms. Zumaya and Ms. Cardenas were able to network with other organizations such as Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support, The Family Place, Catholic Charities, and Human Rights Initiative of North Texas to take back resources for their campus, parents, and community as well as bring about awareness of domestic violence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month.

Thanks to the Essilor Vision Foundation and in honor of World Sight Day on Thursday, Oct. 12, several students at George H. W. Bush Elementary School and Jerry R. Junkins Elementary School received eye exams and new eyeglasses at no cost to them. Watch students at Bush receive their glasses and listen to Principal Carol Crowling explain the program in the video above.

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…