Staff News

In just four years since reopening as an elementary school, H.S Thompson STEAM Academy received its first rating from the Texas Education Agency, a hard-earned B that reflects years of dedication from team members, students, and the community.  

The elementary school opened in 2022 on the site of the former H.S. Thompson Learning Center, which closed in 2012 and was demolished.

Jennifer Atkins, the school’s principal, has served in South Dallas since the start of her career with Dallas ISD and says the area has become home. When she took on leadership at Thompson, she brought strategies such as community building and academic retention that had proven successful at other schools in the Lincoln-Madison vertical team.

Atkins’ strategy also consists of sustaining student enrollment, creating legacy students. This ensures they receive a quality education and fosters family involvement. She encourages teachers to collaborate across grade levels, using student data to identify learning gaps and foster a campus-wide growth mindset. Her leadership has been a driving force in shaping a culture of success.  

“Principal Atkins leads by example,” said Sheila Henry, assistant principal. “She’s very hands-on with everything that we do on the campus and is always visible. She never asks anyone to do something that she isn’t willing to do herself as an educator.” 

According to Rockell Stewart, executive director of the Lincoln-Madison vertical team, Atkins has gone above and beyond the call to align H.S. Thompson academically with the other B-rated schools in the vertical team. 

“It is my goal to make sure that our children succeed because we can achieve anything. It is my purpose to motivate our students,” Atkins said. 

Across every grade level, the STEAM Academy encourages both campuswide and classroom celebrations, big and small. From ice cream socials and classroom parties to carts filled with snacks for the entire school, staff make it a priority to ensure students are valued and recognized each day.  

Each grade level at Thompson belongs to a separate house, which adds to the energy and camaraderie of the school. This house system boosts student morale and personalizes students’ involvement in their own learning, school leaders said.  

“Our students at Thompson know their goals,” said Henry. “They know the end goal and where they want to be. So each day, students are pushing themselves to reach that goal. They know what it takes to get there.” 

This passion for learning also stretches across campuses and generations through the Aspiring Teachers Program, a collaboration with Lincoln High School for students who plan to pursue careers in education.  

Each week, select high school students visit H.S. Thompson to read and teach language arts to elementary students. This opportunity gives them real-world classroom experience and allows the vertical team to begin shaping the next generation of teachers in the community even before they graduate.  

“I think students are getting a real opportunity to see what the craft is all about and what it takes to make a difference in students’ lives,” said Henry. “My high school teacher motivated me to want to be a teacher. With high school students coming over and gaining experience from real educators, they are seeing the need for teachers, and that makes a difference.” 

Like other elementary schools in the vertical team, the STEAM academy lays an early foundation for success and helps the team work toward its long-term expectation of 100% graduation.

With a history of supportive alumni and active community partners, Atkins said Thompson is here to stay. 

“H.S. Thompson is B-rated today, with an A on the way,” said Henry, proudly repeating the school mantra as a promise of what’s to come.  

They get to the buildings early and often stay late. They make sure classrooms, hallways, auditoriums, and cafeterias are clean, safe and functional. And they often take the time to share with students and team members an encouraging word. On Thursday, Oct. 2, take a moment to thank your custodians for all they do. 

National Custodian Appreciation Day has been marked to show appreciation for all the things seen and unseen that custodians do every day to make sure school buildings are ready for learning to take place. Below are a few suggestions on how to recognize their contributions. 

Sign a banner

Create a big banner full of notes from students and team members and hang it near where they clock in so they are sure to see it and know how much they are appreciated. 

Give them a social media shout-out

Take their picture and maybe even get a few fun facts about each custodian or show them doing what they do best, helping students succeed. 

Do a thank you walk-through

Have students and team members line the halls to cheer their custodians as they walk through. Maybe some high fives are in order. 

Decorate their door/hallway

Have students write positive messages or drawings and tape them to the custodian’s office door and along the hallway. Make sure someone other than the custodian takes them down at the end of the week to put them in a folder. 

Create a certificate

Print a certificate they can hang on their wall to celebrate how much students and team members appreciate them. 

Get the PTA involved

Ask your parent organization if they can put together breakfast or lunch for the custodians to thank them for all their work. 

Dallas ISD has one of the largest populations of families whose home language is not English, and Translation Services interpreters and translators are there to bridge the language gap between home and school.

“We are the largest program in the state of Texas,” said Director Adriana Saucedo. The main task of the department’s team members is to provide interpretation services during special education meetings with parents, workshops, annual individual student meetings, consent meetings, and evaluations. Interpreters also assist families with providing the information during general parent meetings, workshops, and events in a language they understand. 

International Translation Day on Sept. 30 recognizes the task translators and interpreters perform in making communication and understanding possible among many cultures and people. And that task is even more crucial in Dallas ISD where about 22,000 parents benefitted from the services last school year, Saucedo said. 

“This means that the parents who don’t speak English are on equal footing, and the more than 70,000 students whose families speak other languages are not left in the dark,” she said. “If a parent is not able to understand the information that the school is providing, the student is affected because they might miss opportunities or resources. We make sure that they have access to that information.”

Translation Services provided interpretation services in more than 6,350 meetings last year. The department also translated almost 1.2 million words in more than 7,000 pages of text whether in flyers, letters to parents, documents, handbooks, or other materials that were shared with the community. 

The department also has an Interpreter Hotline through which they provided interpretation services on almost 13,400 calls last year. The hotline is used by nurses, teachers, principals, counselors and other school team members for more immediate communication with parents. They are connected via a conference call with the interpreter, who then relays the information in the respective language. 

Saucedo knows first hand what a difference it can make for parents to have access to information about educational opportunities for their children. A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, she had to navigate the magnet program application process on her own, even in elementary school, because her mother, a Spanish speaker, did not have access to the necessary information.

“My mom supported me and would have taken some of that responsibility off of me if she had been informed of it in her language,” she said. “Fortunately, we have come a long way in reducing the opportunity gap. In the hierarchy of needs, having a roof over your head, clothing, food to eat, safety are all essential, but language is too, especially when communication opens doors for these students.”

Yolanda Cantu, a third-grade math teacher at Whitney Young Jr. Elementary School, has been set to retire several times, only to be pulled back every time. When she came back from retirement the last time, the 41-year veteran pledged not to make any more attempts until her school earned an A rating.  

Cantu is now set to retire at the end of this academic year since she kept her promise to Principal Shabranda Mathis that she would not leave until they reached that A rating, which the school received for the 2024-2025 school year.

Cantu, a member of the first graduating class at Skyline High School, worked in the mid-1970s as a bilingual geriatric nurse at Parkland Hospital before becoming a teacher. Nursing was one of Cantu’s dream jobs, but it ended up being too emotional for her to stay in the profession long term. 

“I asked myself, ‘Do I want to stay in nursing?’ I was going to funerals, that’s how attached I’d get to my patients,” she said. “I remember I called my brother who was a doctor, and I said, ‘I think I want to go into bilingual education.’” 

Her brother tried to persuade her to stay, saying bilingual nurses were in demand, but she was determined to pursue teaching, her other dream job.

Cantu got a degree in elementary education with a bilingual endorsement at the former East Texas State University. Although bilingual education, a new discipline at the time, was not regarded highly then, she was not discouraged, she said. 

“I told myself I was going to teach my kids what they need to learn in their first language, and then we worked on the second language,” she said. “It was truly bilingual education.”

Once she graduated, Cantu began teaching math at James Hogg Elementary School, now New Tech Elementary School, in the early ’80s. She stayed for seven years before transferring to Leila P. Cowart Elementary School, followed by C.A. Tatum Jr., Annie Webb Blanton, and William Lipscomb elementary schools.

Then the attempts at retirement began. 

“I wanted to retire from Tatum in 2015, but Umoja Turner, who was then principal of William A. Blair Elementary School, called me and told me he needed me,” she said. “He said I had a few years left, and that he had an opening for a bilingual teacher.”

Cantu taught second-grade math at Blair for two years and, at last, she retired.

“My friend Shabranda Mathis became assistant principal at Hector P. Garcia Middle School the same year I retired, and she called me in June, ‘Can you please come and help me out?’” Cantu said. 

At first she refused, because she had never taught middle school, but Mathis insisted, calling her later in the summer. When Cantu said she could not work full-time since she had already retired, Mathis offered her part-time work. 

Mathis pulled at Cantu’s heartstrings, Cantu said, and she relented.  

“I went, and I loved it,” Cantu said. “I remember telling my husband that I missed my calling when I spent all those years teaching elementary school. I just loved teaching middle school.”

Under Cantu’s guidance, most of the eight-graders at Garcia who had never passed the STAAR test did.

“We had seven, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but we worked hard with them. It was different but fulfilling,” she said.

Then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Cantu said she took a break from teaching to protect herself and her family. Thinking she had at long last retired, she settled into her new life. 

Mathis called again. 

“She called me saying she needed help at Whitney Young,” Cantu said. “It was an F school, and she wanted me there with her.” 

This time, Cantu didn’t think twice and told Mathis she would stay a year. She is now going on her fourth year of teaching sixth-grade math, promising Mathis she would not retire until the school raised its rating to an A.

Now that Young obtained an A-rating, Cantu joked with Mathis, ‘“I may stay just to see if we can maintain an A. I know we will.”

In the four decades she has been working with the district, Cantu said bilingual students are some of the most cariñosos—affectionate. She believes that bilingual education is more important than ever before, and she often reminds her students of it.

“Jobs for bilingual people open up so much more, and this is what I try to tell my students: don’t forget your first language because the possibilities are endless,” she said.

Cantu said she maintains contact with former students, keeping track of their lives and accomplishments. Alvaro R., a student Cantu taught at Lipscomb in the 1980s, left a lasting mark on her.

“Alvaro was abused as a child,” she said. “His dad beat him so hard it left him blind.” Cantu said. After fleeing abuse in Mexico with his mother and siblings, Alvaro discovered a latent talent for the piano at his school. 

“We had a piano at Lipscomb, and Alvaro had me take him to it,” Cantu said. “The piano teacher was there, and she played Alvaro a melody, and he picked it up right away. He learned to play by ear.”

What Cantu remembers most is that Alvaro never felt sorry for himself, and his example continues to inspire her to work hard. She often shares the story with her students. 

“I tell my kids that if Alvaro can do it, anybody can do it. I don’t want to know they just showed up. I want them to give me their all–80 and above,” she said.

Like other South Dallas leaders, music educator Carolyn Donnell once walked the halls of the schools she later served, honoring African American music throughout her 48-year career in Dallas ISD. 

Donnell said her love for music always pushed her to strive to be the best even in her early years as a young musician. She has shared this passion with her students for the past seven years at Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center, where she teaches choral music and manages the Biller Kerl Roberts Choir, which combines students from both Dunbar and Charles Rice Learning Center. 

And now, her legacy will live on as one of the composers of a school song performed by Dunbar choral students amid recent celebrations of the B rating results across the Lincoln-Madison vertical team. The song is the voice of hope, unity and achievement in the schools and the community, where Donnell grew up. 

A graduate of Lincoln High School, Donnell began playing the piano at 8 years old, which set her on the path to becoming a multi-instrumentalist. 

“Growing up, my parents didn’t always have the money to pay for my lessons, but my first music teacher taught me anyway,” she said. “Now when I teach piano, I’m not doing it to become wealthy or to make extra money. I am giving back because my teacher gave back to me.”  

By the time she reached high school, Donnell was first-chair saxophonist in the concert band at Lincoln High School and later joined the jazz band. This experience propelled her to eventually learn the flute, clarinet, and xylophone.  

At just 13, Donnell became a church pianist at New Friendship Baptist Church, a role she still holds after 40 years. This experience earned her a scholarship to Texas Southern University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in music. Donnell is also one of the founding members of the university’s renowned Ocean of Soul marching band, which was formed with the appointment of a new band director during her time as a student. 

Between her years as a music teacher, Donnell also fulfilled her desire to teach math, receiving degrees in both math and science from The University of Texas at Dallas and Paul Quinn College. 

Donnell’s excellence in the classroom and dedication to Dallas ISD students has been recognized several times during her career. She was named Teacher of the Year at Umphrey Lee in 2001-2002 and was recognized again as the 2023-2024 Campus Teacher of the Year at Dunbar.  

Her influence as a music educator extends well beyond the classroom. In 2009, Donnell was inducted into the Dallas Metroplex Musician Association Hall of Fame, and in 2020 she was named Musician of the Year.  

Her commitment to the advancement and preservation of African American music can be seen through her membership with organizations such as Tau Beta Sigma Band Sorority, the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has also been active in statewide groups such as the Texas Music Educators Association and Texas Choral Directors Association. 

Through these connections, Donnell has created opportunities for her students to perform and compete nationally. This July, they attended  the NAMN conference in Detroit, where the students performed in competitions and workshops. Last year, they attended the conference in Los Angeles.  

“I like to expose my students to different states and cultures,” she said. “One of my early teachers did that for me when I was growing up in South Dallas.” 

Each summer, she serves as Master Music Teacher for the Summer Arts Institute at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL). In partnership with Dallas ISD, this program trains students 10 to 18 years old in all aspects of performance, from costume design and stage management to music and acting, culminating in a final production. 

Through her decades of teaching, Donnell has helped develop the talents of many Dallas students who have gone on to professional opportunities and careers in music education.  

“I believe that we should be pouring money into the arts. This is how we can help students reach their fullest potential,” she said. “The arts is a place where you can be expressive and creative. It is an outlet and a universal language that must continue to be shared.”

The HCM Benefits Department is bringing back Vaccine Village Clinics for all district team members starting Oct. 1. Team members can receive important seasonal and preventive vaccinations at any of the vaccination locations through Dec. 12. 

With flu season around the corner and symptoms that can resemble COVID-19, getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself, other team members, and loved ones. These clinics are designed for the convenience of team members, offering easy access to essential vaccines right at their workplace. 

 Vaccines offered 

• Seasonal flu 
• High-Dose flu (for employees age 65+) 
• COVID-19 vaccine/booster 
• Pneumonia 
• Shingles 

Accepted insurance plans 

• TRS Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (all plans) 
• Aetna Choice 
• Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO 
• Cigna PPO 
• Humana PPO 
• Medicare Part B 
• United Healthcare Choice (coverage-dependent) 

Register for the Vaccine Village event that is most convenient to you, and don’t forget to bring a copy of your driver’s license and medical insurance card. You can register here. 

Contact the Benefits Department at benefits@dallasisd.org with questions. 

Kiara Yancy, an American Sign Language teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, slapped the heel of her dominant palm against the center of her other palm twice, suddenly gestured down at the floor with both index fingers, and then, raising just her right-hand index finger, pointed at her mouth. Having signed her message, she pointed at a yellow poster that read, “How would you feel in a world where you could not speak?” 

Her students, attending a summer camp on ASL, jotted down their answers on blue Post-it notes as part of the lesson taught for mostly hearing students. Some students wrote they would feel “scared” and “sad.” In contrast, one student who is hard of hearing wrote that he would feel “happy” because he would learn to communicate in a new language. 

Yancy, who is one of only two ASL high school teachers, always has taught at the high school level, but this summer, she reached out to lower grades. Yancy taught third to fifth graders at Dallas ISD’s first-ever ASL summer camp at Harry Stone Montessori this past June. Director of Health and Physical Education Lisa Whitaker, who came up with the idea, said the goal is to introduce students to ASL and Deaf culture earlier in their education. 

“Research tells us that children learn language best because their brains are still developing,” Whitaker said. “But we don’t offer ASL until ninth grade, so how would students even get there when they don’t know about it? Our goal in teaching it early is proficiency and awareness.”

September is National Deaf Awareness Month.

Yancy said she took an interest in ASL in high school when she had a choice between Spanish or ASL. Because she could not roll the R in Spanish, she opted for ASL instead.

“I had a deaf ASL teacher who told me there weren’t many minorities teaching ASL,” Yancy said. Taking that to heart, she went to Lamar University—the only school in Texas with a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language—and returned to Dallas in 2022 to teach at Woodrow Wilson.

She said her students often tell her they would like to continue learning ASL beyond the classroom.

“One group of students that I had were like, ‘Miss Yancy, when I go to college, I’m going to be an interpreter, because you made me want to do it,”’ she said. As part of her curriculum, Yancy asks her classes to attend at least one social event within the Deaf community where they have to sign. 

“If they don’t practice the language, it’s not really worth it. So they do have to have an in-person interaction,” Yancy said. 

Even though the four-week summer camp at Harry Stone didn’t require a social event component, Yancy still taught the same curriculum she uses with her older students. The only difference, she said, is that her elementary school students did more interactive, hands-on activities.

“Instead of just sitting up there and looking at a PowerPoint, I found different ways to keep them engaged in the lesson,” Yancy said. “I feel like that was a challenge and something different.”

Yancy recalled two instances in which the camp changed students’ lives: one boy with partial hearing loss and a hearing aid in his left ear was thrilled to learn to sign, and a girl who wanted to improve her fluency in sign language because her mother is deaf. 

“The student with partial hearing loss likes the language, and I see him interacting with his classmates more,” Yancy said. “But all my students are excited that before they could only communicate with their mouth, and now they can do so with their hands.”

More than 400 students are enrolled in Dallas ISD’s deaf education program. And the number could grow in the future. This fall, some elementary schools with language-learning programs have introduced ASL lessons to the curriculum.  

“ASL is a language, and we want to elevate that,” said Whitaker.

Beyond highlighting the linguistic differences of a language based on hand signs to the greater community, National Deaf Awareness Month also promotes opportunities for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Yancy said it’s important to remind students who are deaf or hard of hearing that they may qualify for a free college education. Most students and their parents, she said, are unaware of this opportunity.

Yancy sees the camp and the classes as an initiative to destigmatize the Deaf community and their values. This stigma, she said, is rooted in misunderstanding, lack of communication efforts, and systemic barriers, rather than inherent differences between Deaf and hearing communities.

“Nobody takes the initiative to learn ASL, but, really, the only barrier that defines the Deaf community from hearing people is the lack of communication,” Yancy said.

The Texas Association of School Administrators and Texas Association of School Boards have announced that four Dallas ISD schools are included among the 43 projects showcased in the 2025-2026 Exhibit of School Architecture. 

Career Institute North, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, Geneva Heights Elementary School, and George Peabody Elementary School were among the architectural projects included in the juried exhibit that awarded a total of 106 Stars of Distinction for Excellence in one or more of the following six areas: design, value, wellness, community, planning, and transformation.

This exhibit of new and renovated Texas school facilities includes projects from 33 school districts, one college, and one county department of education that 19 architectural firms submitted. Eligible projects were newly constructed or renovated public education facilities completed in the past five years and not previously submitted in this annual exhibit.

The Exhibit of School Architecture awards are given at the discretion of a 12-member jury, which includes: four school board members, four school administrators, and four members from the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) Southern Region. The projects were exhibited during the txEDCON 2025, the TASA/TASB Convention, that took place in Houston Sept. 12-13. The projects can also be seen in the online exhibit at https://texasschoolarchitecture.org/.

Katherine Leiva remembers the first time she stepped into a U.S. classroom at age 5 in Virginia, where she found herself surrounded by a language she didn’t understand. For the El Salvador native, every word felt strange and unfamiliar.

“You just got thrown into English,” she said. “I had a big disconnection with my culture, Spanish at home, English everywhere else.”

Now, as a sixth-grade teacher at Annie Webb Blanton Elementary School, Leiva guides her students through the same challenges she once faced. 

“It’s nice to be that person that they can talk to in whichever language they want because when I was younger, it was very much school and home; two separate entities,” Leiva said.

Ximena N. and Camila R. have been Leiva’s students for two years. 

“I really love how she teaches and tries her best to help people understand, even if they don’t at first,” Camila said. 

Now sixth graders, they credit her bilingual skills and caring nature with making a big impact on their success. 

“I love Ms. Leiva. She’s one of the greatest teachers I’ve had,” Ximena said.

During Leiva’s first year teaching fifth grade, 68% of her students passed STAAR. In the 2024-2025 school year, that number increased to 81%, with 54 percent of her students scoring at the Meets or Masters levels. Districtwide, the 2024-2025 results revealed emergent bilingual students in Dallas ISD outperformed their state peers in the “all subjects and grades” category. 

Leiva says mentorship played a major role in shaping her teaching approach and STAAR success. Since then, she’s developed a system that centers around consistency and goal-setting.

“Start with the finish line in mind,” she said. “I’ve taken the STAAR myself, so I know what it looks like. But more than anything, it’s about consistency. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

She gives the example of extended constructed responses, lengthy written answers on the STAAR test.

“It took months for my students to be able to write an essay,” she said. “At first, I gave them support sheets with sentence starters. Slowly, I took those away until they could do it on their own.” 

For teachers who don’t speak the native language of their students, Leiva encourages creating a welcoming environment.

“Emergent bilingual students sometimes feel shy or nervous to speak up,” she said. “Make sure they feel comfortable. They can communicate, they just need to feel safe doing it.”

Leiva is focused on building a legacy measured in rising achievement.

“I want to raise that number for how many students Meet and Masters,” she said. “I just want to see academic success with them, that’s what I’m excited for.”

Shabranda Mathis, principal of Whitney M. Young Jr. Elementary School, describes the moment she learned her campus had dropped to an F rating in 2023–2024 as feeling like “a ton of bricks” had fallen on her. But after taking time to process the news, Mathis quickly shifted gears, assembled her leadership team, and assured them: “We have nowhere to go but up.”

“The biggest challenge we faced as a campus was making sure we had the right people in the right places, and that everyone was clear on what needed to be done to accomplish the goal,” Mathis explained.

From that moment forward, she rallied her staff around a shared vision, she said. She raised the level of accountability, set high expectations for both herself and her teachers, and made it clear that this was an all-hands-on-deck effort. Her teachers responded with the commitment she asked for, throwing themselves fully into the work.

“The goal is for students to win. We had to move our comfort out of the way. It was about the kids deserving this,” Mathis said.

Through collective determination, collaboration, and focused leadership, Whitney Young saw a remarkable turnaround—rising from an F to an A rating in just one year. While Mathis guided the vision, she emphasized that the real success came from her team working together.

A graduate of Dallas ISD’s Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, Mathis began her career as a math teacher at Urban Park Elementary School before serving as a district math instructional coach. After earning her master’s degree, she stepped into the role of assistant principal at Hector P. Garcia Middle School. In 2018, with the encouragement of Yolanda Knight, then principal of Umphrey Lee Elementary School, Mathis applied for and was named principal of Whitney Young, which meant returning to serve the community where she had grown up.

Leading the journey from an F to an A was neither easy nor accidental, and was a personal accomplishment for Mathis, who has dedicated her life to education. 

The road was complex as Mathis led her team in deepening teachers’ understanding of the state curriculum standards, implementing Amplify and Eureka curricula with fidelity, and leveraging tools like iReady and ThinkUp! She worked closely with Executive Director Umoja Turner, who provided consistent on-the-job coaching, as well as Math Instructional Facilitator Chevoya Moore, to strengthen teacher capacity through restructured Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).

“We restructured our PLCs to focus on deeper student learning and the analysis of student work,” Mathis said. “That was one of the biggest shifts—closely examining student work, identifying gaps in both teacher practice and student understanding, and creating action plans.”

Whitney Young began living by its data. Monthly data meetings served to study results, pinpoint gaps, and drive instruction, which helped advanced student learning. More than 90% of students met their growth targets in the 2024–2025 school year.

“It is an honor to do this,” Mathis reflected. “It is an honor to serve, and I don’t take it lightly. This is a privilege and a blessing to be able to do what I do.”

Mathis, who recently earned a doctorate in Christian Leadership from Texas Seminary Christian University, credits her success to a leadership style grounded in educational best practices, faith, belief in potential, valuing both students and team members, and a commitment to continuous learning and self-development.

“I want to make sure that when I leave, my legacy will be clear: Ms. Mathis was here, and she added value to everyone’s life,” she said. “This role is bigger than I am. The work we do impacts lives far beyond today.”