Inside Dallas ISD

Last week, amid the organized chaos that is lunch service at Youth World Learning Center each summer day, the 100,000th free meal was served there by the Dallas ISD Summer Food Program. That number was celebrated on Monday, July 18, by staff, students, volunteers and partners at the center, which serves at-risk children by offering supplemental education resources, economic relief community support and more. Executive Director Darla Shirley said she almost can’t believe how far the center has come, from humble beginnings in an old, crumbling warehouse without air conditioning in north Oak Cliff to a more modern facility down the…

Dallas ISD choir directors have been invited to participate in a special concert honoring the victims of the recent tragedy. The community sing is being organized by the directors of the Credo Choir, Dallas Symphony Chorus, Turtle Creek Choral and Dr. Brad Olesen, Dallas ISD Director of Choir and Elementary Music. The free concert is open to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, July 14 at the Myerson Symphony Center. Learn more here.

The Dallas Independent School District will offer full day, tuition-based pre-K beginning fall 2016. The program will be held at select elementary campuses during the program’s pilot year. Registration began Monday, July 11, and is open to students who will turn 4-years-old by September 1, 2016. Dallas ISD Board of Trustees approved this measure at the June board meeting. During the meeting, trustees set a tuition rate of $700 per month. Students must live within the district boundaries and may attend any of the designated sites. “Dallas ISD is proud to offer more families access to our high-quality pre-K program,”…

Four students from the Sunset High School Dance Company have danced their ways into full-tuition scholarships at the University of Texas at Permian Basin. Diego Campuzano, Eduardo Quinones, Mariya Cano and Verenice Uribe have received full-tuition scholarships for ballet folklorico, a style of dance that celebrates Mexican history and culture. Leah Huggins, the dance company director at Sunset High School, said the students cried when they heard the news. “We come from a neighborhood where college is not always an option, so the fact that they get to go for free is a huge, huge deal,” Huggins said. Cano, one…