Inside Dallas ISD

For Pedro Trujillo, being an urban specialist is all about going the extra mile for the students, focusing on those who are having challenges behavior to truancy, behavior or academics. “You want to walk away from the workday knowing that you did a little bit more, and that’s what counts in the long run,” said Pedro Trujillo, urban specialist at L.G. Pinkston High School. “I talk to them after they are referred to me, and I find out what is going on in their lives. Some students don’t have meals or clothes, and that can cause them distress. I also…

Some Dallas ISD kids are painting the town pink. For the second year in a row, students at Zan Wesley Holmes Jr. Middle School are creating artwork on a different kind of canvas. In minutes, this once orange vegetable transforms into an inspirational piece. It’s just one way these students plan to inspire breast cancer patients while also encouraging survivors and their families. Eighth-grader Alejandro hopes one day doctors will find a cure. “It shows that there’s millions of people that have breast cancer and maybe if we write, we could probably find the cure,” Alejandro said. The canvas serves…

Several of the schools at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center recently received their PISA, or Programme for International Student Assessment, scores. The exam measures student literacy among 15-year-olds in math, science and reading. Townview’s School of Science and Engineering, Judge Barefoot Sanders Magnet Center for Public Service: Government, Law and Law Enforcement, the Rosie Sorrells School of Education and Social Services, and the School of Business and Management students participated in the spring 2014 administration of the exam, which is only given every three years. Law Magnet principal Enedina Townsend calls PISA a metric of cross-curricular competency that evaluates…

To those looking in from the outside, the job of keeping a school running safely and efficiently may not look so tough. But ask any principal and you’re likely to get a totally different perspective. Tuesday, Oct. 14, one-hundred sixty-one citizens and community leaders will get a chance to make their own assessment when they serve as guest principals at district schools as part of the annual Principal for A Day event.  Principal for A Day places volunteers from the worlds of business, government, and community leadership in the offices — and shoes — of real principals for one day.…