Inside Dallas ISD

Dallas ISD’s Custodial Services teams are committed to creating a clean, healthy environment for students across the district, and we are thanking them by highlighting their efforts in honor of National Custodian Day on Oct. 2.  Maria Ceja—the lead custodian at Greiner Middle School and one of the district’s more than 900 custodians—has called Dallas ISD home for the past 26 years. She arrived with 20 years of experience working with adults, but when she came to Yvonne A, Ewell Townview Center, she quickly realized she had a passion for supporting students. That passion only grew when she moved to …

Dallas ISD has invested federal funds in accelerating learning to compensate for disruptions caused by COVID-19. It has also invested in after-school programs that give students a safe place to explore their interests, as participation in visual and performing arts, service and leadership, athletics, academics and other activities can accelerate their overall success and social and emotional well-being.  Last year, the district used $3.3 million from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to offer district-run programs—which operate five days a week from 3-6 p.m.—across 55 campuses. More than 3,100 students participated in these programs. The allocation continues this…

Alberto Arroyo, a Molina High junior and a student at Career Institute South, owns about 30 pairs of sneakers and has flipped as many in resale since taking interest as an eighth-grader. As part of a campuswide competition, the 17-year-old “sneakerhead” and hobbyist reseller developed a business idea to address counterfeit sales – one of the biggest leakages of the sneakers market, which is valued at $70 billion worldwide. He is set to present his plan later this month at a national entrepreneurship competition in New York City. “Ever since I was a little kid, I would always have the…

First-grade teacher Katie Holt and instructional coordinator Natalie Cruz-Garcia of the Biomedical Preparatory at UT Southwestern had no idea that they would become such close friends and co-workers nine years ago when they were 2014 corps members in Teach for America and were placed in Dallas ISD. “I have a core memory of setting up our classrooms at the same time our very first year,” Holt said. “We were constantly going in and out of each other’s rooms, planning how we were going to make our first bulletin boards and organize seating arrangements. Details that now we don’t think twice…