News Briefs

On this episode of Ed Talk with Dr. Bravo, Dr. Robert Bravo, the Dallas ISD Chief of School Leadership, spoke with leaders from the Dallas ISD Office of Transformation and Innovation about the district’s School Choice initiative. Mike Koprowski, Chief of Transformation and Innovation, explained how choice schools aim to tap into a student’s individual learning style, personality, and aspirations. Koprowski and Mohammed Choudhury, Director of Transformation and Innovation, also explain what actions a teacher or administrator can take to launch a choice or transformation school. “If you’ve thought about launching your dream school in Dallas, this is your opportunity to…

Dallas ISD Police Officer Kimberly Stangarone taught herself sign language so that she could better communicate with deaf students at J.L. Long Middle School. WFAA-Channel 8 followed Stangarone on the campus, where she has worked for the past three years. Click here to read the full story and watch the video.

For School of Science and Engineering alum Larry Tyler (2003), lessons learned at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center magnet helped him carve out a career in the mortgage industry. Today, despite his many career milestones, it’s the little people in his life who are his biggest accomplishment by far. AlumNow, a Hub feature that checks in with district alumni to see where they are now, recently caught up with Tyler for an update and for some sound advice for students. What are you doing now? I’m Vice President of Servicing for Nationstar Mortgage. My departments help customers keep their accounts in good standing,…

On a trip this summer, Scot Pankey found his New York groove by asking people to dance with him. The resulting video shows him dancing with strangers to the Bee Gee’s “You Should Be Dancing.” Pankey, a teacher at Dallas ISD’s A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School, became an Internet sensation in January along with his students when a video they created at the school went viral. In it, Pankey danced with students to “Uptown Funk.” One particular upload of the video has surpassed 13 million views on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EUEg7kd6Cg