Inside Dallas ISD

As Dallas ISD football programs welcome their student-athletes back onto the field, the district’s coaches and athletic training staff are working together to ensure student-athlete safety is a priority during the soaring summer temperatures. Heat illness is the leading cause of preventable illness in high school athletics. And high-intensity outdoor sports during the summer months poses the greatest risk for these heat-related issues. Dallas ISD’s top athletics trainer, Phil Francis, advises coaches, parents and student-athletes to be proactive when returning to sports activities and training. Last year, the Dallas ISD Athletics department placed licensed athletic trainers (LAT) at each of…

Danielle Petters, who is going into her first year as principal at H. Grady Spruce School, is no stranger to providing stability at a Dallas ISD school with a historically high principal turnover rate. Petters spent the past seven years as principal at J.L. Long Middle School where, before her, there were 12 principals in 24 years. After meeting with teachers, staff and community members involved with Spruce, which is located in Pleasant Grove, Petters is optimistic about the upcoming school year. “There is a tremendous team in place here that is willing to go above and beyond to help…

Eighteen Dallas ISD football teams are hitting the gridiron this week for the start of practice, and each team has the same end goal: win the State championship. Though most football programs no longer participate in two-a-day practices, football teams go through strategic daily workout schedules that incorporate strength training, conditioning, and fundamental position. “Two-a-days practices are virtually a practice concept of the past and very few schools practice twice a day any longer,” said Phil Francis, Dallas ISD’s head athletic trainer. “It is now widely understood that the excessive duration with exposure to the ambient temperatures and humidity can cause heat-related illness.” The…

There’s nothing quite like having one of your own in the limelight. When retired NFL great Tim Brown is formally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, lots of local fans will share the pride of his accomplishment, not the least of them being Dallas ISD, which is where Brown got his start. Many in Dallas ISD praise Brown—an alum of Woodrow Wilson High School, graduate of Notre Dame University, Heisman Trophy winner, and NFL record-holder—as a hometown success story. In an extensive Dallas Morning News profile, Brown, the first and only Dallas ISD grad to go into…