News Briefs

Spend the next two minutes seconds catching up on many of the great things that happened across the district this week! Going digital  A Cirque du Soleil performer visited deaf and hearing-impaired students at Marcus Elementary to show how hands can be used to communicate beyond sign language. (See photos) Art project to remember Art students at Thomas Jefferson High School drew portraits of 60 Bolivian orphans as part of the Memory Project. (Learn more) Graduation schedule Dallas ISD released the schedule for commencement ceremonies for each high school. (See the schedule) Fun with financial literacy Dee-1, a rapper who went viral…

Dr. Ben Carson, the new U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, visited Dallas and Fort Worth this week as part of his listening tour to research housing issues across the country. On Thursday, he stopped by the Texas Rangers MLB Youth Academy at the Mercy Street Athletic Complex to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a youth baseball game. He also met and posed for photos with the Pinkston and Wilmer-Hutchins high school baseball teams, which were slated to play a game at the complex as well.

LOVE in Motion delivered treats to all staff at 15 schools this month. The goal of LOVE in motion is to remind district employees on a continual basis that there are many people in the community who highly appreciate and value the ongoing work of educators. Appreciation gifts that were distributed included a bag with a full-size candy bar, a scratch off lottery ticket and a handwritten note thanking staff for the arduous work with Dallas students. These appreciation efforts have proven to help lift staff morale, which overflows to school campuses excelling on different levels – proof that a touch…

Helena isn’t only a great student, she’s a great teacher. The Woodrow Wilson High School junior teaches a computer coding class once a week at Mt. Auburn Elementary School. Her teaching revolves around a website she is developing, findvolunteerships.com, to help fellow high school students find community service projects. “It’s really beneficial for kids to learn coding from a young age, especially with the curriculum we’ve come up with to teach the students,” she said.  “Because coding is something that’s so important in the present and the future, I think it will be a required curriculum in the coming years.” She…