News Briefs

To hear Dallas ISD alum Lorena Watson tell her story during a TEDx talk, you’d never know that she overcame incredible odds as a high school student who, in addition to being homeless her senior year, was searching for her voice and place in the world. During her TEDx talk, she commands the stage with great poise and confidence and engages you right away. It’s easy to see she’s a real person of interest and clearly destined for success. Today, this David W. Carter High School alum (2010) is working her way through grad school. AlumNow, a Hub feature that checks in…

The Dallas Morning News profiled how Dallas ISD police officers are trained in verbal judo, “a method used to de-escalate conflicts with verbal techniques.” Dallas ISD Police Chief Craig Miller said in the article that verbal judo is a way to defuse, and not escalate, a situation, according to the article. Click here to read the full article. Photo courtesy Dallas Morning News 

Brenda Benitez, a senior at Skyline High School, spent the summer as a Mayor’s Summer Intern with the Dallas ISD Food and Child Nutrition Services department. She wrote the following blog post. I always assumed our school meals program focused on preparing and serving foods that would get us through the line quickly, not caring if it was good or not.  Of course, I didn’t try everything and I did have some favorites on the menu, but this was my train of thought. I wasn’t concerned about who fed us. I, like many of my friends, just thought the school…

Make recycling at home an easy part of your daily routine. Dedicate an area in your home as a recycling station. Placing containers with handles near doorways will make it easier to grab on your way out. Have children draw plastic bottles or cans outside of bins for creative labeling. It is also a fun way for children to identify which bin to place their recyclables.