Inside Dallas ISD

Submitted by Anne Howell, demonstration teacher at Dan D. Rogers Elementary School For bus driver Tamara Franklin, creating a welcoming and cheerful atmosphere in her vehicle is all in a day’s work. Which, for the past two years, has meant adorning her special education bus to match seasonal holidays and special events. “I started last Halloween,” Franklin said. “I decorate my home, and I saw that some drivers put stickers around, so I thought ‘I’m going to decorate the whole bus!’” That year, students entered the bus the next morning to find spider webs, skulls and a ghost inside. “They…

At N.W. Harllee Early Childhood Center, kindergarten students are looking to the future.  When kindergarten teacher, Zaria Wynn, was teaching her students about what is recyclable, the students started wondering about why trash was being thrown away instead of being recycled. This discussion led Wynn to team up with Michelle Touchet, the school’s library media specialist, to start a recycling program with the students. Touchet had worked on the green team and recycling program in a previous campus, so the two began to work collectively on this project after spring break. This new endeavor at the school has already turned…

For over a decade, Andie Threatt has dedicated herself to Dallas ISD, working as an elementary art and Makerspace teacher at Solar Prep for Girls. Her role has grown into a passion for hands-on learning, sparking creativity, and fostering life skills among her students. One of her more notable achievements is the creation of the school’s outdoor learning classroom and garden, developed in partnership with Out Teach. Seeing students share what they had learned in the garden with their classmates is a live demonstration of how Threatt’s classroom techniques have been successful. Her techniques include a Makerspace approach, which combines…

Dallas ISD is taking proactive measures in building its 2024-2025 budget allotment, prioritizing people and student support in decision-making despite no additional state funding. Currently, the district receives a basic allotment of $5,800 per student from the state. With inflation and no new money, this continues to stress the district’s budget. “Money will never be an excuse in Dallas ISD in terms of providing our students a safe, quality education,” said Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde, Ed.D. Nonetheless, the district is actively taking steps to minimize disruptions to the learning environment. “If a health pathway is available at a Career…