Inside Dallas ISD

This is the last in a series highlighting the four Dallas ISD schools nominated for National Blue Ribbon status, one of the highest honors any school can achieve. Each year, the U.S. Department of Education announces the schools considered high performing or those where students are making significant improvements in achievement levels. Part one featured Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy and Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School. Just south of downtown, the School of Business and Management is one of six schools at the renowned Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center. At SBM, more than 500 students…

September has been a busy month for James Bowie Elementary physical education teacher Sharon Foster. She wrote a guest blogpost on the USDA website; got some one-on-one time with U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey; and represented Bowie at the 2014 National Healthy School Awards, where she accepted the Gold Program Award from former U.S. President Bill Clinton. “He was so engaging and really interested in what we were doing,” Foster said of President Clinton. “I got a chance to speak with him before the event and tell him about Bowie and the great…

Irma De La Guardia’s third-grade dual-language classroom at Harry C. Withers Elementary School is bright and engaging. Bulletin boards around the classroom are all labeled in both English and Spanish, and round tables allow students to collaborate. It’s a place where students can enjoy learning. Originally an auditor in Mexico City, De La Guardia and her husband moved to the Dallas area nearly 15 years ago. A career change through Alternative Certification led her to the Dallas ISD a few years later. “I wanted to make an impact on society; make a difference in my community,” she said. In 2007,…

Dallas ISD’s Student Activities department sponsors dozens of academic competitions that encourage students to expand their knowledge base and test how they measure up against their peers. The competitions run from September through May, and there is a competition for almost every academic skill and skill level. Some 4,000 district students participated in academic competitions last year. Hoping to increase that number, Student Activities has developed a yearlong calendar at https://www.dallasisd.org/studentactivities showing the dates and types of competitions. Schools are encouraged to review the list and begin preparing to field teams. The competitions are fun and educational. Debate, chess, speech…