April 2022

Dallas ISD celebrates teaching excellence by recognizing outstanding educators who are making a difference in the lives of students every day. Meet 2021-2022 Principal of the Year finalists. From the finalists, one principal will be selected from each category to represent Dallas ISD as Principal of the Year. Winners will be announced at the inaugural 2021-2022 Dallas ISD Educator of the Year Awards presented in partnership with the Dallas Education Foundation and Reliant on May 10, 2022.

Elementary Finalists

Antonio Verduzco

Antonio Verduzco is completing his fourth year as Principal at B.H. Macon Elementary School and his 18th year in Dallas ISD. He began his career as a bilingual teacher at Margaret B. Henderson Elementary in 2001. Honored as a Reading Academy Laureate in 2003 and after obtaining his Master of Bilingual Education from Southern Methodist University in 2004, he was recognized as a Campus Teacher of the Year in 2006. Following his participation in the Urban Collaborative for Educational Leadership (UCEL) from 2006-2007 at the University of Texas at Arlington, he served as assistant principal at Fred F. Florence Middle School and Kleberg Elementary School. In August of 2009, he was Julius Dorsey Elementary School principal.

Verduzco is a first-generation Mexican American who was raised in Oak Cliff by an immigrant grandmother and aunt. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Spanish from Texas A&M University in 1998, he returned to Dallas to begin his teaching career with Dallas ISD. Dallas ISD is home for him as a graduate of Skyline High School and now a proud parent of two Dallas ISD students. Currently, he is pursuing his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Southern Methodist University.

Jennifer Atkins

More than 20 years ago, when Jennifer Atkins walked onto the campus of Edward Titche Elementary School, she found her first opportunity to impact young people’s minds. Atkins has worked on the postsecondary and secondary levels and believes in the fundamentals of education, realizing that the greatest need for student maturation and attainment must be carefully and thoroughly addressed at the primary level. 

For the past 10 years, she has considered Charles Rice Learning Center home and the best educational environment in Dallas ISD. Before becoming the school’s principal, she served as an English language arts teacher, a campus instructional coach, and assistant principal.

Atkins obtained her bachelor’s in elementary education from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and her master’s in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. She received her principal certification from The University of Texas at Arlington.

Secondary Finalists

Theresa Fernandez Sigurdson

Theresa Fernandez Sigurdson is the principal of Francisco “Pancho” Medrano Junior High School. As the school’s principal for the past 12 years, Sigurdson has focused not only on individualized support for the students’ academic needs, but also on maximizing their social, emotional, and cultural growth.

During Sigurdson’s tenure, Medrano Junior High successfully integrated students from another middle schools that was destroyed by a tornado. Sigurdson has secured several grants and partnerships to provide additional supports and resources to students. She also led the restorative discipline pilot, which continues today and adds to the positive, welcoming, and productive environment on campus.

In addition to her principal certificate from the University of North Texas, Sigurdson holds a Master of Education concentrating on curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans, and a bachelor’s degree education from Loyola University. 

Katherine Wanserski Eska

Katherine Wanserski Eska is in her fifth year serving as principal at North Dallas High School. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame in business administration and a minor in education, Eska started her career in Dallas ISD in 2009 as a math teacher, cheerleading sponsor and department chair at H. Grady Spruce High School. 

In 2013, Eska continued her own education and earned a master’s degree in education policy and management from Harvard University. Following graduation, she served as head of school in a turnaround public charter elementary school in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Eska is currently pursuing her doctorate in The University of Texas at Austin’s Cooperative Superintendency Program. 

Passionate about Dallas ISD students, she returned in 2014 as principal of Kramer Elementary School, where she led the school to six state distinctions and through the International Baccalaureate authorization process. The campus subsequently became the first IB Primary Years Programme in Dallas ISD.  

Now at North Dallas, she has seen the campus increase academic achievement year after year, grown enrollment by over 15%, and overseen design and implementation of a $46 million bond project. Most notably, the campus became only the second comprehensive high school to achieve Choice School status and the first-ever Design Thinking campus in Dallas ISD.

Eska has a 1-year-old daughter, Lyla, and is expecting another child, Kailani, with her husband.

Choice/Magnet Finalists

Gabrelle Dickson

Gabrelle Dickson has served as principal of Young Women’s STEAM Academy at Balch Springs for five years. She began her career in 1999 as a seventh-grade English teacher in Austin ISD before joining San Antonio ISD as part of a turnaround team at Sam Houston High School.

Although being a principal is all she ever wanted to do, Dickson’s administrative journey included stops as a Title I grant manager and intervention specialist before taking a leap of faith in 2015 that landed her in the Dallas ISD’s principal fellows program. An assistant principal role at H. Grady Spruce High School soon followed.

Dickson holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Education in educational administration from Texas State University. She was named a 2018 Southeast Network Secondary Principal of the Year, a 2019 Dallas ISD Master Principal, and 2020 Single Gender Cluster Principal of the Year. She serves on multiple district advisory boards, as a Principal Impact Collaborative alumnus, and as mentor to five new campus principals.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson has served as the principal of Sudie L. Williams Talented and Gifted Academy for the last four years. A proud Dallas ISD graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, he is especially proud to serve as an educator in his home community. He is an honors graduate of Texas College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history, and a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned a master’s in educational leadership and policy studies. Jackson is currently pursuing a doctorate in education at The University of Texas at Austin’s Cooperative Superintendency Program.   

Inspired by his own teachers, the 22-year veteran educator has served as a teacher, a teacher mentor, basketball coach, grade-level chair, campus instructional coach, AVID coordinator, assistant principal, and principal  at the elementary and secondary levels—all in Dallas ISD.

He has been recognized as a Campus Teacher of the Year, Magnet School Principal of the Year and has earned a Master Principal designation. He has also served on the Chief of Schools’ Focus Group and the Superintendent’s Principals Group.

Under his leadership, Sudie L. Williams TAG Academy has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as the #6 ranked elementary school in the state of Texas. Jackson’s two favorite mottos are: “Give the people light, and they will find their way” and “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”  

Teachers who are interested in joining an innovative group of educators working to reimagine how Dallas ISD educates children, can now apply for the Innovation in Teaching Fellowship.

The Innovation in Teaching Fellowship is a nine-month teaching fellowship rooted in user-centered design to re-imagine how we educate every student in Dallas ISD. Over the next school year, fellows will draw from research, best practices, and their own ingenuity to design and test blended learning, project-based learning, and design thinking models in their classrooms. Fellows will have access to workshops, pop-up (on demand) professional development sessions, internal and external site visits, and coaching from the Dallas ISD personalized learning team. At the conclusion of the nine months, fellows will have an opportunity to share their insights and ideas at Dallas ISD’s annual Innovation Showcase event.

The application is due no later than Tuesday, May 3, at 11:59 p.m. If you have any questions, reach out to the Personalized Learning Department at personalizedlearning@dallasisd.org.

School librarians are the epitome of making memorable moments and striving for the yes when it comes to accelerating learning, and Dallas ISD has been celebrating their work with students at all levels during April—School Library Month. 

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, library media specialists around the district were providing critical support to students and staff by promoting reading fluency, creating safe places for students and planning enrichment events to accelerate learning. Then the pandemic began, and they went above and beyond to help their communities overcome challenges no one could have imagined before. 

“Librarians are helping people. They want to help, they want to serve,” said Gay White Patrick, the director of Library & Media Services. “That’s one thing that librarians are really good at—coming up with ways to engage the child more effectively in education.”

Librarians work on targeting the areas where students need the most support. Whether they work at elementary, middle or high schools, they are transforming student lives every day. The following stories explore just a few of the ways school librarians have positively affected Dallas ISD. 

Marcie Verastiqui—L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School

Marcie Verastiqui has spent four years concentrating on her community at Hotchkiss Elementary. Prior to her current role, she served as a bilingual teacher, so she understands how important access is to academic success.

“We’re one of the few employees in the school who actually get to teach all the students, from the lowest grade to the highest grade,” she said. “We also have a vast amount of knowledge. I always say I don’t know everything, but I can find everything for you.”

During her first year at Hotchkiss, she received an opportunity to do just that. A third-grader entered her library who had recently arrived in Dallas and spoke a French dialect. While the student could read in French, she could not use any of the English language books yet, so Verastiqui made it her mission to contact schools around the district to acquire French language books. 

“When I brought them to her, her eyes were just wide open, like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can read this, I know what this is,’” Verastiqui said. “They were very simple books because they came mostly from high school libraries where they were taking beginner French, but she was so appreciative. Cut to now, and she’s pretty much fluent in English and French. She’s amazing.” 

Moments like that have made Verastiqui’s time as a school librarian so fulfilling, she said.

Lea Birmingham—T.W. Browne Middle School 

This may be Lea Birmingham’s first year at Dallas ISD, but she is no stranger to the power of school libraries after previously serving as a library media specialist in Fort Worth ISD for 11 years. In her eyes, one of her most important roles at T.W. Browne Middle School is creating specialized learning materials and lesson plans to explore the subjects that teachers want to share, but do not have the time or bandwidth to cover. 

Sometimes, this looks like organizing spelling bees or science and history fairs; other times, it looks like bringing in a sign language interpreter to demonstrate the importance of diversity and inclusion. Recently, Birmingham asked an ASL interpreter to teach a choir class Tevin Campbell’s “Can We Talk?” She was worried that the students would not have enough time to learn the material, but they were signing the lyrics and their names by the end of the class period. They also discussed what it would feel like to be unable to communicate with their peers and examined why other languages are important. Even better, those lessons stayed with them beyond that school day.

“A couple days later, I saw one of the students in the hall, and we signed to each other,” Birmingham said. “So I knew they didn’t just get it that day. They clearly still understand it, and they’re still practicing it. That was one of my proudest moments.”

For Birmingham, being a school librarian is all about providing opportunities for academic and social and emotional growth and exploration. 

“We are the in-person Googles. We find the resources. We are also the wonderland for students—we help fuel that imagination,” she said. “Reading will take you places that you may not ever be able to go in real life. Reading is a mirror to not only your soul, but to the soul of others. Reading opens up the doors to other cultures, other places, other ideas.”

The message she has for the Dallas ISD community is that school librarians do so much more than checking books in and out. They are “instructional supports” and “information centers,” and they guide students and teachers alike to the resources they need to succeed. 

“When I walk in, I don’t see books, I see information,” Birmingham said. “I see ideas, and I see adventures. And I don’t think just anyone can come in there and make children see that. I have to get up and ask students, ‘What’s your favorite thing?’”

Then, of course, she helps them find it between the library stacks and the online databases. 

Nina Canales—Hillcrest High School

Nina Canales taught elementary school students for 16 years before making her transition to school libraries. Her ultimate goal ever since has been to turn her library into a welcoming, safe space for students to catch their breath and get their work done. 

“It’s just this hub for them to come to, and they’re never turned away,” she said. “They come in and it’s, ‘How can I help you?’ right away, and they’re just so appreciative of that.” 

When the pandemic began and Dallas ISD went virtual, Canales found her own way to provide for her community. She was new to Hillcrest at the time, so while she set up a website with resources and made sure students and staff had access to ebooks like so many other librarians, she wanted to take her efforts a step further. So she turned to social media. She first tried her hand at YouTube tutorials, and then she took on Instagram and TikTok. 

Once she got started, she realized she had stumbled upon something great. Last year, she even won the Texas Association of School Librarians’ MVP—Most Virtual Presence—award for her informative, fun and personally relatable content that allows her students to connect with her and library resources.

“They know everything about my dogs and my cats, but at the same time, they know I’m going to be doing book talks, and I’m going to be talking about the new things we have in the library,” Canales said. “They’re going through so much stress right now that no other teenager has gone through, so I tell them you need to find joy in things that make you happy.”

Canales is a good role model when it comes to finding joy and focusing on the positive. Her advice for her students is simple, and she lives out the message every day: “You be you, and you put yourself out there. You’re going to learn so many new things.” 

All in a day’s work for this library media specialist. 

School Library Month is dedicated to recognizing the role librarians play in supporting their communities and transforming student lives, and Dallas ISD is grateful for each and every one of them. 

“It’s not about students accomplishing something for us; it’s about what we accomplish for them,” Patrick said. 

Remember to thank the school librarians near you this month and beyond. You can also visit https://sites.google.com/dallasisd.org/librarian-achievements/home to nominate a librarian for going above and beyond for Dallas ISD. 

Dallas ISD recruiters are working hard to ensure that every classroom has a highly qualified teacher for the 2022-2023 school year.  To overcome a national and state teacher shortage that has been made worse by the pandemic and to help recruit the best teachers to the district, Dallas ISD just announced two incentives: a $2,000 new teacher hiring incentive and a reimbursement payment for alternative certification program fees of up to $4000 for eligible new teachers.

“This new teacher hiring incentive will help ensure that we have the applicant pool we will need to fill expected vacancies for the 2022-2023 school year so we can continue to support the efforts to accelerate learning, recover from the challenges caused by the pandemic and ensure we have a great teacher in every classroom,” Chief of Human Capital Management Robert Abel.

The $2,000 hiring incentive will be available for both experienced and novice teachers who are onboarded to Dallas ISD as a teacher for the 2022-2023 school year.  This strategic approach will serve as an opportunity to encourage teachers to join Dallas ISD and applies to all certification areas as long as the candidate meets the minimum requirements to be hired as a teacher.

The hiring incentive is stackable, which means that it would be added to other applicable incentives such as—$3,000 for secondary math and science, $3,000 for identified special education teachers, $5,000 for elementary bilingual education teachers, and $3,000 for teachers of languages other than English.

In addition to the incentives, Dallas ISD will reimburse newly hired teachers up to $4,000 for their alternative certification program fees from any Texas accredited alternative certification program. This payment will be applicable to teachers of record who are hired for the 2022-2023 school year. Eligible candidates will need to have their intern certificate posted no earlier than 2022 through an eligible alternative certification program accredited by the Texas Education Agency.

Those interested in teaching at Dallas ISD and taking advantage of the hiring incentive and alternative certification reimbursement can participate in the upcoming Dallas ISD job fair from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 23, at Emmett J. Conrad High School, 7502 Fair Oaks Ave. Applications are also being accepted at www.dallasisd.org/teach.

The district will absorb the costs of the hiring incentive and the AC reimbursement by utilizing existing Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. Payments are available for employees hired by September 1, 2022. For any questions, please contact Chele Andreason at candreason@dallasisd.org. 

While the hiring incentives apply to new teachers, existing Dallas ISD employees will benefit from an employee retention incentive that will be paid in three installments during the 2022-2023 school year.  Based on eligibility, the retention incentive will range from $2,500 to $3,500 for most employees.  This retention incentive is part of the district’s efforts to minimize teacher and other vacancies so it can continue to provide the best learning environment for Dallas students, Abel said. Employees who will benefit from the retention incentive must have been hired by the district no later than May 1, 2022.

Dallas ISD students continue to excel at regional and global competitions.

Six Dallas ISD teams representing elementary and secondary schools will be competing in May at the Destination Imagination Global Finals after they finished at the top of their challenges at the state competition held recently at The University of Texas at Arlington. Some teams were made up of several schools. The finals will include thousands of teams from around the globe meeting in Kansas City, Mo.

The schools represented are:

• Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy
• Casa View Elementary School
• Lakewood Elementary School
• Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
• School of Science and Engineering at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center
• Woodrow Wilson High School
• School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center

Dallas ISD students from 14 schools will be representing the district at the regional level in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Regional Competition scheduled for April 22-23 in various locations.

The students going to regionals were among the more than 300 who competed in more than 20 competitive academic events ranging from speaking to STEM to writing contests in the Dallas ISD UIL Spring Academic meets held in March.

To be eligible for UIL Regionals, students had to place first, second or third in their respective contests. School that will have students competing at regionals are:

• ​​W.H. Adamson High School
• Sunset High School
• Wilmer-Hutchins High School
• H. Grady Spruce High School
• School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center
• School for Science and Engineering at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center
• Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet
• Marvin E. Robinson School of Business and Management at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center
• North Dallas High School
• Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy at A. Maceo Smith
• Emmett J. Conrad High School
• Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship Academy at James W. Fannin
• Moisés E. Molina High School 
• Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School at El Centro College
• Hillcrest High School 
• Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership Academy

Dallas ISD employees who plan to retire this year can still participate in the Retirement Service Award thanks to a deadline extension—April 29 is the last day to notify Human Capital Management of intent to retire.

Employees who enter their intended retirement date in Oracle Self-Service can get cash for their unused local days through the district’s Retirement Service Award. The more days remaining, the higher the payout.

The Retirement Service Awards pays employees a flat daily rate of pay for any unused local days accrued by July 31. The exact rate to be paid will be determined upon calculation of the total of all participants’ remaining local days (calculated by July 31). There is no cap to the number of local days paid. There is no time-in-service requirement.

If employees complete the separation process in Oracle by April 29 and work the remainder of the year, they will continue to have pay and benefits through Aug. 31.

Those who do not enter their separation date in Oracle Self-Service by the extended deadline of April 29 will not be eligible for the award.

For additional questions, employees may contact the HCM Benefits Department at 972-925-4300 or email Retirement@dallasisd.org.

Human Capital Management is preparing to disseminate contracts for the 2022-2023 school year. Electronic contracts will be available for signature for all contract-eligible employees via Oracle Employee Self Service beginning April 18, 2022. All contract-eligible employees will receive a notification email from notifications@dallasisd.org with instructions on how to complete the acceptance process once contracts are available.

According to Texas Education Code (TEC), contract-eligible educators are provided a penalty-free resignation deadline which is 45 days before the first day of instruction of the following school year. The resignation deadline for this year is July 1. Additional information, frequently asked questions and instructions may be found on the contracts home page at https://www.dallasisd.org. If you have any questions, please contact Human Capital Management at contracts@dallasisd.org.

Keeping track of your overall health and well-being is important. Of course, when life gets busy, it becomes easier and easier to overlook your own needs. That is where Dallas ISD’s Employee Assistance Program by LifeWorks can help.

Through this secure, confidential service—which is free to all district employees—you can take several online assessments to check on your health. The four main categories, or pillars, are mental, physical, financial and social. 

After completing each pillar’s assessment, you will receive a summary of how you are faring in that category, including what you are doing well, areas of improvement and recommendations to useful resources. You can stop the assessments at any time and pick up where you left off. As you complete all four, you will receive a “total well-being score” to indicate if your wellness is anywhere from “at risk” to “optimal.”

If you need additional support, you can connect with LifeWorks at (972) 925-4000. They have counselors available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help you manage personal and work-related concerns. You can also visit www.dallasisd.org/benefits and click on Benefits Resources to access online EAP support and assessments. 

One of the EAP’s primary goals is to help employees cope with issues and concerns before they become overwhelming. Whether you are looking for childcare tips, COVID-19 support or sleep advice, the EAP has something for you. Find out how you are doing in the four wellness pillars and get the care you need. 

April 15 is the deadline for open transfer to high priority and other campuses

Rebecca Bennett wears many hats at her job, though she is officially a fifth-grade bilingual language arts and social studies teacher at William B. Miller Elementary School. Despite this being her first year at Miller, she already serves as the school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) coordinator and as their TEI expert. 

However, her most important role is guiding her students to success, especially considering the challenges brought on by the pandemic. 

Like so many children around the world, her students have faced countless challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, Miller’s special calendar provided “the turnkey moment” they needed to move forward, something that Bennett believes other teachers can experience if they choose to use the open transfer period that ends April 15 to apply to schools like Miller. 

“I have seen [students] excel and develop their self-efficacy, so that makes me their proud teacher,” she said. “That is my most important position here at Miller, leading their success, and they’re doing a great job.”

Under Miller’s Intersession calendar, school started Aug. 9 and will end June 23, creating time for five additional intersession weeks throughout the year. Students working in smaller classes during these weeks helps teachers develop stronger relationships with their students and personalize learning even further. They also allow students to “hone in on those muscles they have not exercised during the school year.” The result, according to Bennett, is more intentionality. 

“I’ve had date nights with my sons from when they were small, and it’s amazing what happens when they’re together, but when you spend time with them separately, you get to know them better,” Bennett said. “That’s what intersession is. You get to listen to them in a more direct way, put in place what you have heard and then you show them that they can do it.”

Current Dallas ISD teachers, instructional coaches, counselors and media specialists who are interested in making a difference on a campus with a special calendar have the opportunity during the open transfer period. Eligible employees must apply online using their EAD login at  www.dallasisd.org/careers. The deadline for principals to submit a recommendation is 11:59 p.m. on April 15. Employees will be notified of their application status by April 29. Transfers are not final until an approval email is received from Human Capital Management. 

Making any large changes in life can be challenging, but Bennett believes all lifelong learners are up to the task. The rewards speak for themselves, after all. 

“You have the opportunity to be part of a student movement outside of yourself,” she said. “Every day we come with the intention to make a difference in their lives, and it sounds cliche, but it has to be intentional. That’s how you make a difference. You will have the opportunity to leave a legacy in the lives of students.”

If you are interested in bringing your passion and talents to a campus with a special calendar, take advantage of the open transfer period by April 15. To be eligible for an open transfer, employees must:

• Hold a valid Texas Teacher Certificate in the requested subject-area vacancy and meet TEA/SBEC Certification Standards for the position
• Not be entering their fourth year of an Alternative Certification Program
• Not be identified for non-renewal at the end of the current school year due to performance
• For instructional coaches only: must receive approval from recommending campus executive director 

They are the steadfast campus leaders who carry out the principal’s vision,  who work with teachers and office staff in the day-to-day operations, who make sure students and teachers meet federal and state performance guidelines, and who often manage school safety. April 4-8 is National Assistant Principal Week, so it’s not too late to say thank you to your assistant principals for all they do.

The National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the American Federation of School Administrators has shared some ideas on how to celebrate assistant principals.

• Send them an e-card to let them know you appreciate them.
• Use #APWeek on social media to share your words of appreciation, celebratory images, and other acknowledgments of the great work they do year-round.
• Get inspired by the ideas for activities from NASSP below:

• • Write a thank-you note for your assistant principal, with specific examples of how they have helped you.
  • Create a photo scrapbook with notes from the school community about why they are valued.
  • Plant a tree on the school campus to honor the assistant principal (with administration approval, of course).
  • Read testimonies from students, parents, and teachers over the intercom or virtual announcements.
  • Have the art, music, and theater classes do one small group project to honor your assistant principal.