News Briefs

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

At 3:30 a.m. on the morning of the first day of school, Ben Dickerson, principal of Edward H. Cary Middle School, filmed some of his, um, enthusiastic dance moves all over the school. Dickerson made the video as his way to wish every teacher’s room good luck. Really, the above video needs no further explanation.

Dallas ISD high school football kicks off this week with competitive games all over the city. For those interested in following the action, here are the schedules for this year’s football games: Click here for the varsity football schedule; Click here for the junior varsity football schedule; Click here for the ninth-grade football schedule. Games are subject to change, and any such changes will be posted to the Dallas ISD Athletics page calendar.

At its regular meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27, the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees recognized two men who lead the district’s JROTC program and a former trustee. Major Morris Shepherd is retiring and was awarded the Congressional Record and presented with a U.S. flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in his honor. Shepherd currently serves as the Deputy Director of Army Instruction for the school district, based at Roosevelt High School, where he oversees the activities of all Leadership Cadet Corps programs. Lt. Col. Robert Davis, Director of Army Instruction for the district’s JROTC program, was selected Director…