Inside Dallas ISD

When Cecilia Oakeley, deputy chief of Evaluation and Assessment, received her doctorate in educational research in the 1980s, there were few women practicing in the field and even fewer who were also ethnic minorities. When she was promoted to head the department in 2005 not many women were in charge, especially in districts as large as Dallas ISD. “When I was getting my Ph.D., there were very few women, so I felt like I was breaking ground, and even more so when I started getting leadership roles,” Oakeley said. “I am glad to see that we now make more of…

Omar Cortez has been a key player in transforming the robotics program over the past three years at the School for the Talented and Gifted in Pleasant Grove. In his first year on campus, he said he was so excited to start competing that he entered a robotics competition before there was even a team. Six interested students joined the new robotics club at the time, and now, Cortez teaches robotics to every sixth-grade student on campus while coaching 40 students in five teams in middle and elementary school alongside three other driven teachers and coaches. Cortez and fellow coaches…

Supporting each other and paving the way for student success are integral parts of Dallas ISD’s culture and the work educators do every day. For two librarians, this work also has been a journey of discovering new careers and rediscovering their friendship. Louise Wolff Kahn Elementary School’s Brenda Vargas and Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy’s Yolanda Rosa first met in January 2012 when Vargas took a long-term substitute position at Kahn. Vargas said Rosa “took me under her wing right from the beginning” and became first her mentor in the classroom and then her good friend. “I started at…

When it comes to softball legends, Coach Tim Taylor from Moises E. Molina High School will forever be etched in the Dallas ISD history books as the first coach to record 500 wins. “I want it to be on the record that Coach Taylor is the GOAT—the greatest of all time—of softball coaches and you won’t find anyone better,” said Athletic Coordinator Lance Bruner, beaming with pride. On a night filled with anticipation and home runs, Coach Taylor and the Molina Jaguars defeated Arlington Seguin by a score of 14-5 last month and earning the legend his 500th win in…