Inside Dallas ISD

The Woodrow Wilson High School debate team has had an historic year in 2015. In fact, this team of powerful persuaders has literally talked their way from Dallas to Austin to Los Angeles, establishing a track record of championships along the way. Debate team members Gabriel Jankovsky, a junior, and Mac Murchison, a senior, recently returned from the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues Championship at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where they advanced to the semifinals, taking third place in the national competition. Debate sponsor Robert Hearne said the accomplishment is history-making for Woodrow. “At nationals,…

Second-graders visiting the library at Stevens Park Elementary School one morning this week sounded quite disappointed that they were allowed to check out a book only one more time before the school year ends. Their attitude is a testament to librarian Jennifer House, who has been named Dallas ISD’s 2015 Librarian of the Year. The bright, well-organized space welcomes students to explore. Stuffed animals on many of the bookshelves are three-dimensional depictions of book characters, beckoning students to take closer looks at the words that bring them to life. House has also incorporated technology into lessons after becoming Google…

The week of May 4-8 was School Nutrition Appreciation Week, but with so many excellent cafeteria staffs at Dallas ISD, one week isn’t enough to extend our gratitude. The cafeteria staff at Hector P. Garcia Middle School go above and beyond to serve the students and faculty. Watch this behind-the-scenes video to learn about the cafeteria staff’s day-to-day responsibilities.

Movies inspire me, and many of you know that I often use movie analogies to illustrate or reinforce a particular point. Last weekend, like millions of other moviegoers, my youngest son Anthony and I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron. We share a love for action movies, and after seeing this one we debated over who was the coolest superhero: Captain America or Thor. Now that’s a tough choice. What wasn’t tough was seeing the similarity in this movie to the hard work of the Dallas ISD team. At one point in the movie, the members of the Avengers are…