Inside Dallas ISD

A mentor is someone who allows you to see potential and restore the hope inside yourself. That is what led Gerardo Gonzalez Gomez, an instructional specialist in the Dual Language Department, and Isaac Nkurunziza, once his student, to collaborate in an organization that is making an impact on many lives. Nkurunziza, who was in Gonzalez Gomez’s ESL class at Bryan Adams High School Leadership Academy, is studying to become a mechanical engineer, but he is not your typical college student. At 23-years-old, he launched the Dream Nziza Foundation, whose mission is dedicated to empower children living in rural areas of…

When Joshua Spindler teaches government class at Moisés E. Molina High School, he encourages students to get educated about current issues that will affect them in the future.  This is especially important in years like 2024 with national elections when they get to have a voice in how those issues are handled, he said. “When I tell them about some of the issues, they get depressed,” said Spindler, who has been a social studies teacher for the past 10 years. “I tell them, ‘look, you can’t solve a problem until you understand it completely.’” He also tells them that they…

Jamie Contreras is building on his family legacy – not just as principal at Gabe P. Allen New Tech Academy, but also in Oak Cliff and West Dallas. Every day he walks through the school, he sees a hallway or a room that was there when his father attended in the 1960s and knows he is in the right place. “When you look around, you can see where it has been updated, but you can also see what’s original to the school, and I can hear dad,” he said. “When I see the young boys here, I can see how…

Dallas ISD started the 2024-2025 school year with fewer than 70 vacancies—the lowest in almost ten years.  This means the district filled 99% of teacher positions before classes started, an accomplishment due in great part to the efforts of Human Capital Management’s Recruitment and Selection Team. The team of 16 members works year-round to identify and recruit the best teachers worldwide through strategic sourcing, travel, and participation in critical events. Their primary objective is to have a certified teacher in every classroom at the start of the year, a process that often starts a full year in advance. Meeting the…