Inside Dallas ISD

Being a woman leading a successful athletics department for a large school district that has earned several state titles is not the norm. But Silvia Salinas, the first female executive director for the Dallas ISD Department of Athletics, stands out not just for these accomplishments, but also for creating a positive culture that uplifts future leaders. Salinas believes in making sure the 1,200 coaches and over 150 events team members who work directly with students are the department’s focus. This year, that focus has led to South Oak Cliff High School’s football team and Justin F. Kimball High School’s basketball…

Dallas ISD continues to be a trailblazer in the field of international recruiting and recently visited Panama City, Panama, to find outstanding bilingual educators to lead district classrooms. “This was a way to expand the district’s international recruiting efforts, given the current teacher shortage, specifically in the areas of bilingual and special education,” said Rafael Fontalvo, director of the Staffing Department, whose efforts and connections were recently featured in a local story. To help get the word out that the district was in Panama to recruit teachers, Fontalvo, who is originally from Panama, appeared on TVN, a national television station…

First year teacher Gabriela Palacios said teaching has always been a “lifelong dream and passion,” but she was not able to pursue it until she joined Dallas ISD’s Alternative Certification Program in February 2022. By August, she was teaching 10th-grade English at Rosie M. Collins Sorrells School of Education and Social Services at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center as an ACP intern. “It’s everything I could have hoped for being here in the classroom,” Palacios said. “It’s definitely been a great learning experience, and my students are just wonderful. They keep me laughing.” That is not to say the journey…

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…