News Briefs

The nine finalists for 2015 Principal of the Year are all rated in the top 3 tiers of the Principal Excellence Initiative. There are four elementary level finalists, two at the secondary level, and three from magnet and special programs. The winners will be announced at an event to honor their accomplishments Dec. 9. John Quincy Adams Principal Nancy Bernardino lives by the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As leader of the southeast Dallas campus, she seeks to surround her students with a similar circle of support. “I know that I cannot do it alone,”…

The Dallas ISD Teen School Board has elected officers for the 2015-2016 school year. They are: Maya Farr-Henderson, president, School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center; Harris Miers, vice president, W.T. White High School; Lili Vi, secretary, Thomas Jefferson High School; and Alexa Sanchez, service project chairperson, Moises E. Molina High School. The young leadership group is a student advisory board that meets monthly to discuss issues impacting students and is comprised of the senior and junior class presidents from each Dallas ISD high school. The Teen Board gives students a voice in leadership decisions…

The Dallas Morning News reports how the Pentagon opening up all roles in the military to qualified women has encouraged students such as Yorleni Saravia, an eighth-grader at Marsh Preparatory Academy and leader for the school’s Leadership Cadet Corps. Click here to read the full story.

Members of the public and district employees were invited to provide input on some of the elements of Dallas ISD’s 2016-2017 school calendar. Through the calendar survey, the public and district employees weighed in on the winter break, bad weather make up days, and early release days. District administration incorporated the feedback from the more than 7,600 responders when creating the proposed calendar for next school year. The calendar survey results included: 52.99 percent of responders voted in favor of holding Winter Break from Dec. 23–Jan. 6; the other 47.01 percent of responders voted in favor of holding Winter Break…