Inside Dallas ISD

Mark Twain Leadership Vanguard scored a visit from Dallas Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr as part of Principal for a Day. Carr, whose mother was an educator, toured the school and talked with teachers and staff on Monday morning. Carr is the founder of the Carr Cares Foundation, which promotes literacy and physical health. More than 200 business and community leaders led schools across the district as part of Principal for a Day. Dallas Regional Chamber and Capital One help sponsor the great annual event.

REAL School Gardens and Vizient recently teamed up to install a new outdoor garden/classroom at Stephen C. Foster Elementary. REAL School Gardens aims to create learning gardens that grow successful students. Meanwhile, Vizient, Inc., based in Irving, is the largest member-driven health care performance improvement company in the country, serving academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, and community hospitals, among others. REAL School Gardens and Vizient had previously teamed up to beautify DeGoyler Elementary. Photos courtesy Bethany Erickson.

Meet Giovanni (“Gio”) Cischke, an eighth-grade student at Benjamin Franklin Middle School and a Boy Scout working on becoming an Eagle Scout. As Benjamin Franklin celebrates its 60th year and transitions into being an International Baccalaureate Program school, Cischke wanted to contribute something back to his school, its staff and his fellow students. For his Eagle Scout Project, Cischke decided he would paint his school’s six sets of entrance doors, all the exterior hand railings, and the information sign post. With the help of his Principal, Joseph Sotelo, he contacted Jane Didear with Dallas ISD’s Volunteer and Partnership Services department, to obtain…

A Lincoln High School graduate has shot over adversity to become one of nine finalists for the NCAA 2016 Woman of the Year Award. Cameasha Turner graduated as the valedictorian at Lincoln in 2012 and went on to play basketball—and score a 4.0 GPA as a criminal justice major—at the University of Texas at El Paso. She is now in law school at Notre Dame. Turner has 11 siblings, and her dad has been incarcerated for most of her life. And while she faced challenges growing up, Turner’s mom, education, friends and mentors helped lay the foundation for her success.…