Inside Dallas ISD

Marian Jones, a Lakewood Elementary crossing guard, greets every student and many parents by name as they walk through the busy intersection of Sondra Drive and Hillbrook Street.  Jones is just one example of a team of crossing guards and volunteers with a deeply ingrained sense of community that goes beyond ensuring the safe arrival and departure of Lakewood Elementary scholars.  “Some people, you don’t know what they’re going through,” Jones said. “I try to make them feel good and keep hope alive and inspire them. Whatever you’re going through, from the house to here, it’s going to be OK.…

For the past few weeks, employees of Dallas ISD’s Operations Division—bus drivers, cafeteria and maintenance workers and custodians—have been conducting a donation drive to collect items for homeless students. Items ranging from face wash, hand sanitizer, hair products and cosmetics bags to coloring books, journals, socks, gloves, scarves and even earbuds and cable protectors have been donated at seven service centers and Operations facilities. “It’s incredibly generous of our population in Operation Services who really make the least amount of money in the district, yet are providing donations to help those who are in need, especially during the holidays. It…

Although he competed against the best football talent in the world as he became a five-time Super Bowl champion, NFL legend Charles Haley says his biggest challenge was getting his college degree. Haley entered college reading two grade levels behind and struggled to catch up. Now as a retired Hall of Fame player, he is dedicating his life to building a team and working collaboratively to ensure that students at seven Dallas ISD schools don’t fall so far behind. “We need everyone to understand that the biggest social justice movement is to educate kids,”  Haley said. “If you educate kids,…

Over the course of its 59-year history, Roosevelt High School has built a legacy of academic excellence and engagement with the neighborhood surrounding its campus. It is those strong community relationships and strategic collaboration with its South Oak Cliff neighborhood that is fueling Roosevelt’s resurgence as the “School of Innovation”, with innovative programming like the emergency medical technician (EMT) and firefighter training. “The community wanted to have programs that would retain the students here at Roosevelt,” said LaKisha Thomas, principal of Roosevelt High School of Innovation. “Roosevelt alumni initiated the process, and we collaborate with the overall goal of preparing…