Inside Dallas ISD

Five members of the Thomas Jefferson High School family were honored on Friday, March 31, at the TJ Alumni Association’s annual awards ceremony. Four of the honorees are distinguished graduates: H. Russell “Rusty” Brutsche; Michael Carter; Craig Melde and Audrey Pinkerton. Another honoree is longtime staff member and parent volunteer Annette Elliott. Brutsche, Class of 1963, founded a company that changed the face and sound of live rock-and-roll concerts. Interested in building things but also having a love of music, he started his career as an engineer designing laser systems at Texas Instruments. Later, he devoted his professional efforts to…

It’s not every day that an elephant shows up at your school. But that’s exactly what happened on Thursday, March 30, at Dallas ISD’s Dan D. Rogers Elementary School. Well, sort of. Ellie the Elephant is a realistic-looking, animatronic robot elephant that talks. Ellie tells a story about being captured in the wild, abused and forced to work in the circus. The program aims to teach empathy to schoolchildren about how animals are sometimes treated in captivity. Her story ends happily, as she is rescued and sent to live in an animal sanctuary. This year, Ellie has spoken to 25,000…

Dr. Shelia Brown is the 2016-2017 Magnet/School Choice Principal of the Year. She is the principal of the Rosie M. Collins Sorrells School of Education and Social Services at Townview Center. Brown grew up living in project housing in Arkansas, but would walk every day to her grandparents’ house in a middle-class African-American neighborhood. “I virtually lived in two worlds,” Brown said. “But each world taught me to do your very best, regardless of the situation. And I think that’s what made me impact the lives of so many children.” In her early career, as a teacher and later assistant principal,…

For as long as most people can remember, it’s been cool to hate the food served in school cafeterias. But Michael Rosenberger is building on what Dallas ISD Food and Child Nutrition Services has been doing the past several years to turn that tide. Rosenberger, that department’s executive director, told the Teen School Board on Tuesday, March 21, that the best is yet to come when it comes to offerings in district cafeterias, as next year will bring many new and better edibles. “If you’re graduating, come back and eat with us,” he told the group of juniors and seniors. “It’s…