Inside Dallas ISD

Cheryl Culberson, Dallas ISD’s Alcohol and Drug Intervention Program coordinator, is playing a vital role in the district’s efforts to increase awareness, expand prevention, facilitate intervention and promote recovery for substance use/abuse in students, a role that has become even more crucial recently as the area faces an increase in fentanyl abuse. As a licensed chemical dependency counselor and a licensed professional counselor, Culberson is qualified to provide both substance abuse and mental health intervention, something that has always been her passion. “Substance abuse is a large component of impulsivity and poor life choices that affects the whole family,” Culberson…

Three Dallas ISD teachers were recently honored by the Dallas Metroplex Musicians’ Association for their dedication to student success and their years of hard work in the music industry. Nelda Washington of Clara Oliver Elementary School and Osley Cook Jr. of Franklin D. Roosevelt High School Of Innovation were both inducted into the Dallas Metroplex Musicians’ Association Hall of Fame for serving the area for over 30 years. Chad Lott of Skyline High School earned a Next Generation of Music Professionals Award, which is given to professional musicians who have been in the field for less than 10 years. The…

For Stevens Park Elementary School kindergarten teacher Deborah Castro Torres, creativity is the name of the game. If she is having fun, she said it’s likely that her dual language students will be, too, so she has spent the past 17 years and counting looking for innovative ways to keep her classes engaged. That often means using real-world interactions to keep students involved, whether she is teaching math, science or reading. “One thing that I love to do when we’re doing science is to bring real worms,” Castro Torres said. “I won’t touch them because they gross me out, but…

Several Dallas ISD students will spend part of the Spring Break competing in the UIL Cross-Examination Debate State Meet at the University of Texas at Austin. By placing first or second in their respective UIL CX Debate District meets, 12 students from Jefferson, Law Magnet, Samuell, Skyline, and TAG high schools will travel to Austin on March 16 to compete in the UIL state competition, one of the largest debate tournaments in the United States. With the topic of Emerging Technologies, the debate teams will argue whether the US government should increase its security cooperation with NATO in the areas…