Inside Dallas ISD

A little change can go a long way. Students from 19 Dallas ISD schools collected a total of $23,638.39 to donate to 24 Dallas-area nonprofit organizations through the 19th annual Common Cents Pennies from the Heart campaign. The effort aims to encourage students to give back to their communities through charitable giving. Students collected spare change from classmates at their schools through December 2016. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, students presented checks to the nonprofit organizations they selected to receive the donations. Awards were given for the top fundraising schools. Skyline High School won theLouise Gartner Common Cents Pennies from the Heart…

As part of an effort to meet the district goal of every student engaging in a co-curricular or extra-curricular activity, the Dallas ISD Student Activities Department, Special Education Department and STEM Department hosted the district’s first ever Special Needs Robotics Scrimmage. Sunset High School, W.H. Gaston Middle School, the Young Women’s STEAM Academy at Balch Springs, Billy Earl Dade Middle School and J.L. Long Middle School each had a team compete in the event held Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the H.B. Bell Building. The teams faced off with their VEX IQ robots, aiming to complete as many tasks as they…

Eight campuses have advanced to the next round in the NCAA’s Read to the Final Four® contest for Dallas Independent School District third-graders. The bracket style tournament mimics the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament schedule, with schools advancing based on how many minutes students read outside school hours. Since November, third-graders from across the district have been counting the number of minutes they read each day. The Elite 8 advanced from the Sweet 16 round. Each Elite 8 campus will receive $500 for the school library, a pizza party for the top classroom, a gift card for the top teacher,…

Martin Weiss Elementary School became a School of Leadership in Fall 2016 by implementing “The Leader in Me” curriculum, which aims to develop students’ intellectual, moral, social and emotional skills to prepare them to be leaders in a global society. “The Leader in Me covers Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and we call them ‘the seven habits of happy kids here,’ ” said Principal Shundra Brown. “On top of that, they have internships their fifth-grade year where they get to hold real jobs around the campus.” In addition, the school’s location in the community makes it easy to connect students…