Inside Dallas ISD

Editor’s note: During the Thanksgiving holiday, The Hub will take a look back at some of the best and most popular stories from our first semester. This story was originally published on Sept. 17, 2014. Students learn better when they’ve had nutritious meals throughout the day.  This year Dallas ISD is offering meals to all of its students at no cost.  The healthy, nutritious food includes a variety of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. The district’s Food and Child Nutrition Department is nationally recognized for its Breakfast in the Classroom program. The program has been available in elementary schools for several years and…

Nancy Bernardino, principal of John Quincy Adams Elementary School, was recently recognized at a special reception honoring Dallas ISD’s top principals. This year as part of the district’s new pay for performance initiative, Bernardino was one of 184 principals who received an increase in pay under the new system that is based on a combination of performance measures and student achievement results. With the new compensation plan, the higher the principal effectiveness, the higher the salary. On average, principals received a $9,164 increase in pay. The average salary for the 2014-2015 school year is $100,300 up from $91,136 in the…

Dallas ISD is committed to involving those for whom the Teacher Excellence Initiative was designed – the teacher. Also known as TEI, the plan is the district’s new system to identify, support and strategically compensate effective teachers. During its development, the plan received a high level of interest and teachers were given the opportunity to have an active voice in the process. Teachers such as Jacqueline Martinez asked her fellow educators to give the system a chance. Now that the plan is in full motion, teachers continue to play an active role. Nearly 500 teachers (two or three per campus)…

It’s no secret that the work teachers do changes lives, a sentiment that seems more popular every day as a growing number of companies and individuals seek ways to acknowledge and reward teachers for their work. The financial services firm, National Life Group, is part of that movement, announcing that two teachers from Dallas ISD’s Nancy J. Cochran Elementary School are among the nominees for its LifeChanger award. The effort is a national program that recognizes full-time educators, teachers and administrators who are making a positive difference in the lives of students. Fourth-grade math teacher Romulo Zaragoza was nominated because…