Inside Dallas ISD

Written by Lennon Formaggini, Student Activities Department The energy at Skyline High School was electric.  Hundreds of students entered the building and eccentric costumes were on full display. Friends, family, and judges were eager to watch the team challenges at the Destination Imagination Regional tournament. The annual event drew more than 150 teams from across the Dallas region and served as the crucial starting line for teams hoping to prove their creative problem-solving abilities. After months of preparation, unique scripts, and engineered devices, students solved complex, open-ended problems combining science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. When the final scores were tallied,…

Reading is important at the School for the Talented and Gifted in Pleasant Grove, and students celebrated Read A cross America Day with a visit from Morr Meroz, author of the graphic novel “Snowlands.” Meroz began the meet-and-greet with a fun game consisting of a series of slideshows displaying scalloped silhouettes of characters in the novel. Questions appeared above the row of silhouettes: Best leader? Most clever? Funniest? With hands up in the air, students shouted out their answers. Prompted by Meroz, some even defended their choices. Author school visits are a common way to encourage students to read and…

When most people think of Dallas ISD, they picture classrooms, teachers, and students.  Jermauld Cobbs, director of Fleet Services, thinks about trucks, fuel, ice melt, work orders, and pallets of supplies having to move before sunrise. Cobbs is a homegrown leader — a graduate of David W. Carter High School, he pursued engineering studies at Prairie View A&M University. He came back to Dallas ISD as an employee, and will soon celebrate 30 years at Dallas ISD. .  “I started with the district back in 1996 and have been here ever since,” he said.  Today, Cobbs oversees the Service Center…

When Edwin Dubois, principal of H. Grady Spruce High School, stands before students, he doesn’t see a random crowd of teenagers. He sees the future of the neighborhood where he grew up—and a calling he can’t ignore. “I want people to know that it’s a new day here at Spruce,” Dubois said. “Whatever yesterday’s view of Spruce was, we want people to see about today.” A Dallas ISD legacy, Dubois grew up in the Pleasant Grove community and graduated from Skyline High School. While his professional life didn’t begin in the classroom, the fire was lit once he began substitute…