Inside Dallas ISD

The approximately 40 Skyline students in Shawn Coyle’s floral design class in the school’s Eco-Tech cluster don’t have any time for idle chitchat this week. In their effort to trim and prepare 1,000 roses and 1,200 carnations for their big Valentine’s Day flower sale on Friday, the students are hard at work taking orders and making sure each flower looks perfect. The class is a part of Skyline’s Agriculture Career and Tech program. “It’s phenomenal what these students can do after just four or five months of being in this class,” Coyle said. “They are able to work on the…

What would life be like without books and reading? The question alone is a scary thought for anyone who loves reading. The children at Cornerstone Baptist Church, one sponsor of the Feb. 20 African American Read-In, may have tapped in to that idea in coming up with the theme for the event, Reading is the Wave of Life. The theme emphasizes the importance of reading and suggests that without books and reading, life would be much less interesting. Given that view, you might wonder why aren’t more people reading and why aren’t more parents reading to their children. These are…

Lunchtime on Feb. 12 could prove to be a much more pleasant experience than usual for hundreds of Dallas ISD’s middle schoolers. With the help of counselors, students at the district’s 37 middle schools are pledging to make their schools kinder, more caring places to learn by inviting everyone to the lunch table on No One Eats Alone Day. A national, peer-led initiative sponsored by the nonprofit organization Beyond Differences, No One Eats Alone Day is aimed at ending social isolation in middle schools and creating a culture in which all kids feel included, valued and accepted by their peers.…

As local hip hop artist Tru Def freestyled over a looped cello riff and an impromptu beat made by a middle-school student, one thing was clear: this Career Day at Alex W. Spence Talented and Gifted Academy was something special. Following the performance, Jordan Cleaver—a Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts grad and classically trained cellist—Tru Def, and members of Tru Def’s entourage, which included a publicist, event organizer, and videographer, talked with students about their careers. They answered students’ questions about how they got to where they are today and shared advice. “There is…