Campus Staff News

Netallia Rush began her journey in education after becoming a mother because she wanted a career where the skills she developed professionally could support her in her parenting.  

“I knew that being a parent was going to be a new responsibility,” she said. “My daughter activated my desire to be a teacher.” 

Years later, Rush stepped onto the stage of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House to the applause of her peers to accept the Dallas ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year award at the State of the District. 

“When I heard my name, I was in awe,” Rush said. “Throughout the interview process last year, I continued to remind myself to be confident in my abilities and to show up as the best version of myself. I’m proud of myself because I was able to achieve something that in my heart, I knew I could do.”  

Rush is a fifth-grade teacher at Ronald Erwin McNair Elementary School and has plans to leave a legacy of optimism for teachers and students in the district. She also hopes to encourage others to pursue their passions.  

“I would tell someone to never let anything stand in the way of going after what they love to do. That is the biggest reminder that I’ve had from this experience,” she said. “I love teaching, and I love learning. If I am able, I want to spread that self-belief to others.” 

During her first year of teaching, Rush was motivated by the ways her presence had a positive impact on the students and the way they learned.  

This year, when her students faced moments of doubt, Rush reminded them of Thomas the Tank Engine. Inspired by the lesson in the children’s book The Little Engine that Could, she encouraged her students to approach daily challenges with an “I think I can” mindset.  

“My students get to have a teacher who exemplifies what it means to think big,” she said. “I’m able to show them through my actions that they don’t have to be afraid to try new things or put themselves out there.”  

Rush attended college in Mississippi, completing a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Jackson State University and a master’s in reading and literacy from Belhaven University. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership at The University of Texas at Dallas.  

Rush said she is a scholar at heart and loves to serve the communities she is part of. She carries out this passion as a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and by serving as the fifth-grade team lead at her school, coordinating events and programs.  

“I like to make sure that every teacher’s voice is heard. My leadership style is to make sure that I’m fair and collaborative when working with other teachers,” Rush said. 

As a teacher, Rush has created a classroom environment where students can feel comfortable confiding in her about the obstacles they face while learning.  

She closed out the school year with a project inspired by the reality show Shark Tank. The students built social, reading, and persuasive skills while learning about entrepreneurship. 

“I love to create enriching experiences for my students,” she said. “I believe that great teachers recognize the potential of their students from the beginning. No matter where they are academically, we work to help them improve.” 

With the school year ending and the energy of an evening at the Winspear Opera House giving way to the excitement of summer break, Rush was already looking ahead.  

As she prepared for another year at McNair Elementary, she carried with her not just memories of that special night, but also the distinction of the award  

“This award has opened up a lot of doors. It’s a big achievement to represent the district in this way,” she said. “This is just the beginning for me. There’s so much more I still hope to achieve. I would encourage teachers to remember that there are many paths to your goals, and that it’s important to stay open-minded to the possibilities that come your way.” 

Photo Courtesy of Jazzella McKeel, The JNM Creative Agency

Valerie Tagoe, media specialist at Woodrow Wilson High School, was recently elected 2025 division president-elect of the Young Adult Library Services Association, a part of the American Library Association. Tagoe will begin her three-year term as president-elect in July, becoming president starting in July of 2026, and remain active on the board for one more year as past president in 2027.

“I would like to thank the members who voted in the election,” Tagoe said. “As president-elect, I look forward to working with the board in the years to come to ensure that YALSA continues to serve its members and provide them with the resources and information they need to serve teens across the country and internationally.”

The mission of the association is to help those working in libraries to alleviate the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens, especially those with the greatest needs, on the path to successful and fulfilling lives.

Tagoe has been involved with YALSA by serving as the editor for The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, serving as a director on YALSA’s board, and serving as the chair of the Organization & Bylaws Committee, among other activities. 

For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa.

Stephanie Amaya, principal of W.H. Adamson High School, said she was shocked when her name was announced as the Secondary Principal of the Year at this year’s State of the District.   

“I was honestly surprised,” she said. “I think we have so many great educators in our district, so many principals who deserve this award. We have great leadership in our district where people really care about our kids and will do everything to make sure their schools are successful. All our principals are really deserving.”   

Amaya, who was recently named executive director over the Moisés E. Molina vertical team, has devoted her career to turning around schools and creating academic opportunities for students with little access to them. As W.H. Adamson’s principal, she achieved the #1 School Effectiveness Index in Dallas ISD, boosted P-Tech associate degrees from 19 in 2021 to 74 in 2024, secured a CCMR rate of 86%, and doubled Advanced Placement passing scores.

Her dedication to helping the most disadvantaged in the community was fueled by her parents’s example. In the ’80s, as the Salvadoran civil war raged, Amaya’s parents fled to the United States.Her father risked his life to get all his siblings safely out of the country, she said. Once here, the family lived in a household of 11 people, whom Amaya’s father supported through his work in construction and masonry while her mother cared for them.

“My dad was always working out of town, and so my mom took care of everyone. She was also very involved in our schools,” Amaya said. 

She attended several district schools and graduated from the School of Science and Engineering at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center before studying bilingual education at the University of North Texas.   

After college, Amaya began her career as a teacher in kindergarten at Stevens Park Elementary School where she was asked to join a five-person turn-around team, a move  that would set a path for her career in Dallas ISD.   

“From the work that we did at Stevens Park, I was offered a position as part of a strategic staffing initiative to go to Boude Storey Middle School,” Amaya said. From there, she went to South Oak Cliff High School where she worked to boost graduation rates.  

In 2014, she became an assistant principal at Arthur Kramer Elementary School, where she was part of the founding team that made Kramer the district’s first International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme school.  

“That was exciting, and it was a great opportunity. In my first year at Kramer, with Principal Katie Eska, we accomplished six state distinctions for elementary schools. We worked with some phenomenal and innovative educators,” she said.   

Innovation drives Amaya’s vision. Where she has gone, she has introduced initiatives that enhance the learning experience for students. In addition to earning IB status and six distinctions, Kramer, Amaya said, was the first school in the district to pilot Social and Emotional Learning, to establish a paid-for Pre-K, and to create a SPED continuum for a Pre-K and Kinder collaborative.

“It was a great experience to be able to start all these different programs and see how they work,” she said. “We wanted to create and develop systems for all kids to learn.”

After spending two years at Kramer, Amaya pursued her principalship and went to Sylvia Mendez Crew Leadership Academy, formerly known as John Ireland Elementary. Within her first year at Sylvia Mendez, the school went from an F to a B rating.

“Our kids really deserved an experience of learning and growing. We really centered our work around the library. We had a school garden, which is now a community garden,” Amaya said. “We really pushed advocacy for our students and tried to connect them to real world issues and project-based learning.”

Thanks to the dedicated effort of its educators, and under Amaya’s leadership, Sylvia Mendez became the first expeditionary learning school in Texas. And though she  wasn’t there to see it, Amaya laid the groundwork for the school’s first A rating three years later.

“I was around people who had a passion for our students and our community. Sylvia Mendez is a great school with such great values,” Amaya said.

Amaya then briefly served as the principal of John Neely Bryan Elementary School and led it through the challenges of a pandemic.

“That was a lot of fun and challenging, but again, I was able to really surround myself with amazing educators who provided our students with the emotional, cultural, and academic support that they needed in order to progress,” Amaya said.

For the past four years, Amaya has been principal at Adamson High School, where many of the teachers are alumni who pour themselves into their work and their communities, she said.

“We have a lot of our own teachers that bring their students here. That says a lot about the trust that there is among our teachers, the trust between teachers and leadership, and the trust that we have with the community,” Amaya said.  

Amaya feels proud of the many accomplishments Adamson High School boasts including 18 robust programs, a principal of the year, a teacher finalist in the HEB Excellence in Education Award, a flagship store, a memorial garden, and growing appeal to international students.   

“People are seeking us out,” Amaya explained. “We’ve had students come from Canada, Romania, Scotland. When our parents see the programs that we’re offering and what we’re doing, they’re like, ‘I moved into this neighborhood because of Adamson.’ That’s a great feeling.”

Dallas ISD coaches are leaders on the field and in the lives of the student athletes they interact with. Recently, several of the district’s coaches were recognized for their work at the Department of Athletics’ end-of-year gathering. 

Juan Rivas, athletic coordinator at Bryan Adams High School, was named High School Athletic Coordinator of the Year. Rivas is the school’s boys’ basketball coach and is in his third year as the school’s athletic coordinator. He had served as the assistant athletic coordinator since 2018.

Now in his 17th year in Dallas ISD, Rivas has improved the boys’ basketball team’s win total each of his first five seasons and guided it to the playoffs in the 2017-2018 for the first time in six years. The team’s 20 wins in 2018-2019 were the most at Bryan Adams since the 1990s. The 2019-2020 team also qualified for the playoffs.

Prior to coming to Bryan Adams, Rivas was an assistant boys’ basketball coach for six years at Woodrow Wilson High School, his alma mater. Rivas played basketball and was a member of the track and field team at Woodrow Wilson and played basketball at Dallas Christian College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science.

Rivas is a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association, the Dallas Coaches Association, and the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. He has been a board member of the DCA since 2021.

Also at the event Lakita Dockery, assistant athletic coordinator at W.T. White High School, was named High School Assistant Athletic Coordinator of the Year; Paul Boyd, athletic coordinator at J.L. Long Middle School, was named Middle School Athletic Coordinator of the Year; and Nellasha Davis, athletic trainer at Bryan Adams High School was honored with the Phil Francis Making a Difference Award, which recognizes the athletic trainer of the year.

The event also honored athletic coordinators, coaches, and trainers retiring this year: Cherry DeLeon, assistant athletic coordinator, W.W. Samuell High School; James Mays, athletic coordinator and boys’ basketball coach, South Oak Cliff High School; and Dennis Landes, athletic trainer, Sunset High School. Also honored were Lyndon Love, head coach of boys’ basketball at David W. Carter High School, for 400 career victories; Nicke Smith, head coach of boys’ basketball at Justin F. Kimball High School, for 400 career victories; Pat Washington, head coach boys’ basketball at W.T. White High School, for 500 career victories.

Others who were recognized during the event were the regional coaches of the year for 2024-2025:

Region I

Derek Lewis, Dr. L.G. Pinkston Sr. High School
Etta Edwards, W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy

Region II

Cordell Hunter, Seagoville High School
Danese Baker, Young Men’s Leadership Academy At Fred F. Florence Middle School

Region III

Desireé Allen, North Dallas High School
Crystal Rexius, Thomas C. Marsh Preparatory Academy

Region IV

Ashley Greer, Lincoln High School (Co-Coach of the Year; state championship)
Nicholas Smith, Justin F. Kimball High School (Co-Coach of the Year; state championship)
Benny Dorrough, Dr. Frederick Douglass Todd Sr. Middle School

Patricia Cortez, recently named Choice/Magnet Teacher of the Year, knew from a young age she wanted to teach. She even has childhood mementos to prove it—including the drawing of a teacher and a photo of herself pretending to teach her kindergarten class.   

As Cortez made her way through Dallas ISD’s Casa View Elementary, Henry W. Longfellow Career Exploration Academy, and Skyline High School her desire to teach was nurtured by teachers who saw her potential.   

“I was a very shy child, and a lot of my teachers believed in me so much that they continuously pushed me to do better things,” Cortez said. “First, they pushed me to join the math club, and then, they pushed me to join the University Interscholastic League. It just gave me the feeling to want to go back and be a teacher myself and be that person for my students.” 

At The University of Texas at Arlington, Cortez majored in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on bilingual education and later pursued a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech University. After graduate school, Cortez returned to Casa View to teach, coming full circle in her journey.   

“What really kept me wanting to pursue education was all the teachers that influenced me, all the teachers that were there for me,” she said.  

Cortez began doing her part in guiding students so they can also reach their full potential through robotics. Her robotics journey started when a colleague asked if she wanted to take part in a new Dallas ISD initiative, she said. 

“No way. I don’t want to do that,” she said to him. “I have no clue how to build a robot or anything like that. I have no engineering background.” 

Despite her initial reluctance, Cortez began comentoring the EagleBots in 2017, the school’s first coed robotics team, and three years later, at the request of two third-grade students, started mentoring an all-girls robotics team, the LadyBots.  

“A lot of the time in STEM, girls are pushed off to the side to do smaller tasks,” Cortez said. “All tasks are meaningful in robotics, but the girls are not working on the nitty gritty of robotics, like building and driving and programming.” 

 Though Cortez felt out of her depth mentoring an all-girls team, her students and coworkers believed she could do it and succeed. 

“The girls said, ‘It’s okay, we can all learn together. You always told us that we can learn anything, so let’s all learn together,’” Cortez said.  

Cortez and the four members of the LadyBots have made a name for themselves at the state and national level. Not only did they receive the Excellence Award and Teamwork Champion Award at the VEX IQ State Tournament, but they also competed in the 2023 Vex Robotics World Championships and took home the Girl Powered Award and the Build Award.  

“The LadyBots were honored for being so empowering to each other and for showing that girls do belong in STEM,” Cortez said.  

Cortez founded a new chapter of the LadyBots at the School for the Talented and Gifted in Pleasant Grove, where she now teaches sixth-grade world cultures and seventh-grade Texas history. This robotics team, which includes two of the original members from her previous school, is also leaving its mark, getting recognition at regional championships and ranking among the nation’s top robotics teams for its members’ exceptional skills.  

Even in the classroom Cortez brings history to life through STEM-inspired, hands-on activities. Not so long ago, she challenged her class to create artifacts from various eras in Texas history. One student used robotic pieces to build a diorama of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. Another built a railroad system and a cattle network to represent the era of cotton, cattle, and railroads. A third student designed an oil rig equipped with movable parts to simulate Spindletop gushing oil.  

“These kinds of activities are what they love most,” Cortez said. “They are thinking critically on how to solve this challenge.” 

This hands-on approach reflects Cortez’ teaching philosophy, and its emphasis on STEM integration in the curriculum, which fosters trust, and even embraces failure.

“We must create a culture that accepts that not everything is going to work. There is no right or wrong answer. Students need to embrace failure,” she said.  

Of her recognition as Dallas ISD’s Magnet Teacher of the Year she said: 

“It’s an absolute honor to be named Teacher of the Year for this amazing district that gave me so many opportunities and opened so many doors for me. It’s still surreal for me.” 

Cortez praises Dallas ISD for its commitment to extracurricular activities, which lay the groundwork for her career.  

“As an alumna and now a teacher, Dallas ISD has taught me to value extracurriculars and exposure to things that students aren’t normally exposed to,” she said. “That is what makes our students think out of the box. It helps us develop relationships with our students outside of the classroom to where they can have that trust in us, and once we have their trust, they work even harder in the classroom.”  

Jessica Morales, a Dallas ISD legacy, not only completed her 11th year of teaching this month. She and a group of 24 students also completed a unique educational experience that she says has changed the way she will approach teaching and relationships in the future.

Morales was teaching first grade at Preston Hollow Elementary School in a self-contained dual language two-way classroom when Dallas ISD and other districts across the nation were in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.  She taught her group of 24 students—half predominantly spoke Spanish and the other half English—first virtually and then in person. This situation was common.

But when it came time for the students to move up to the second grade, Morales moved up with them in what is called looping. This was uncommon as was her moving up every year when Morales moved up grades with the same group of students until fifth grade.

“Looping is not an original idea,” she said. “But once I started, I quickly saw how powerful it could be. This year in fifth grade, I had a partner teacher, so we weren’t in a self-contained classroom. I had the same students and some others for reading and social studies. It’s been five years now, and only about two or three students have moved, and then only because they moved out of the district or out of the state.”

Morales, who attended Dallas ISD schools and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, is the Language Proficiency Assessment Chair at her school and this year was named Teacher of the Year. She had never tried looping before but now sees the benefits of the experience both for the students and for teachers.

“The continuity and being self-contained helped,” she said. “It established an emotional security and stable environment. They trust the process. It leads to confidence, risk taking and personal growth for them as well as academic growth.”

Since Morales knew each student’s strengths, challenges, and learning style, she could tailor her lessons to push them, she said. She also could start the year teaching because she did not have to spend the first few weeks getting to know her students and establishing the processes of her classroom.

“As my students grew, I watched them grow as learners and people,” Morales said. “Whenever we started first grade, they were shy first graders and then they became very confident speakers, leaders, and problem solvers. They grew not just academically but also emotionally.”

The results of the kind of support that the continuity looping provides can be seen in achievement gains—some of her students in fifth grade tested three grade levels above that in the recent iReady test, she said.  

Principal Ginette Peralta Suarez has been impressed with Morales’ strength as a teacher as well as with the results of looping, and believes that while it remains and uncommon practice, it has merit.

“She is such a great teacher,” Peralta Suarez said. “It makes me think of the possibility that it could go further because of the relationship with the parents and students. It’s hard to get students to mastery. It’s harder to get them past that mastery, but that is the trend we have seen with Ms. Morales’s students. Her bilingual class’s average growth right now is over 300%. She has a student who went from mid-fifth to seventh grade placement.”

Another positive result for the learning experience is the relationships that she was able to build not only with the students but with their families, whose support of the classroom at home makes a tremendous difference in how students feel and learn, Morales said.

Looping also had a positive effect on her as a professional because over the years her learning style expanded as she had to adapt constantly to new grade level content, she said. She had to rely more on collaborative learning, lean on her colleagues, and even on student feedback to become more reflective.

“And that’s a good thing,” she said. “The looping environment taught me to be flexible and to be willing to grow just like I ask my students to grow.”

While Morales will not be following her students to middle school, nor will she be looping again next year at Preston Hollow Elementary, she is taking all she learned the past five years and applying it to teaching fifth grade. She is also a resource for other teachers who are interested in the experience and the benefits it can have for students.

Teaching, after all, is in her blood. Her mother, Yolanda Morales, is a 25-year veteran teacher at Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School, and her sister is also an educator.

“Even though my looping journey comes to an end, teaching does not, and the lessons will stay with me,” Morales said. “I will give the same heart and connect with students at the same level even if it’s just for one year.”

At Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School, fathers are valued for the impact they can have as positive role models, and campus security officer Joseph Thomas, with his son by his side, is showing them how to be more engaged. 

Thomas knows the importance of having a present father figure, which is why he started the chapter of All Pro Dad, a national organization, at the school. The goal is to get more fathers involved and strengthen family ties. 

Launched in 1997 by an NFL head coach, the national program is based on a sports draft model that encourages fathers to be engaged in their children’s lives.

“I was inspired by my college classmate, a former NFL player who also started an All Pro Dad chapter,” Thomas said. “I felt like this was the platform we needed in Dallas ISD.” 

Thomas’ vision has since spread to other schools, leading to districtwide collaboration with Partnership and Volunteer Engagement Services, as well as Dallas ISD Security Services. 

While at the University of Notre Dame, Thomas was a student-athlete and earned a bachelor’s degree. Though his dreams of playing professional football did not materialize, he decided early on that he would use his career to support others. His college’s culture also prepared him for a lifelong commitment to community impact.

His son, Jayvon Thomas, a Class of 2023 cornerback and graduate from South Oak Cliff High School, is following in his footsteps. 

“We decided to collaborate. My son understands that I grew up without a father,” said Thomas, who said he knew he was destined to be a great father himself. “Jayvon gives back by using portions of his NIL money to fund breakfast for the program, and I do all of the groundwork.” 

After winning back-to-back state championships with the Golden Bear Football Team in 2021 and 2022, Thomas’ son obtained a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with Texas A&M University where he has continued to be successful both on and off the field.

On April 19, at a Texas A&M home game, the All Pro Dad and Family First national organization honored Thomas and his son with certificates and public recognition, for their outstanding impact in the Dallas community. 

“I am preparing my son to take on the mantle and continue the work that I have already started,” Thomas said. 

The All Pro Dad Chapter at Wilmer-Hutchins supports fathers through daily one-minute emails, and holds monthly meetings an hour before school that equip them with parenting tools. The meetings include serving breakfast and a special moment to celebrate their contributions as parents. 

In October, Thomas and fellow All-Pro Dad Chapter members gathered for an interactive day of fun at the Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium. Modeled after an NFL combine, the event gave fathers a chance to bond with their children in a familiar setting.

Continuing to lead by example, Thomas is also bringing attention to men’s health and the silent symptoms of heart-related issues through a wellness clinic led by the school nurse.

“I realized that I can’t be an all-pro dad if I am not healthy,” he said, acknowledging that being a great father means not just being present, but living a long, active life.

For the past 23 years in Dallas ISD, Thomas has been a mentor to students at each of the schools he has served, inspiring the fathers and teachers around him to do the same.

“I hope that the students learn the skills they need in life,” Thomas said. “I want to give them a good foundation so when they are faced with hard times, they know that they will be okay—and that they are equipped to continue their education and make the world a better place.”

As a child growing up in South Dallas, Thomas credits his success in school and adulthood to Ricky Lewis, his high school athletic director. While Thomas was a student at Lincoln High School, Lewis took him under his wing—changing his life for the better and setting him on a path to success.

“None of this in my life would be possible if Coach Ricky didn’t invest in me. My life is a win,” Thomas said. “I know he had high hopes for me to go to the NFL and pursue that dream, but besides going all-pro in football, I wanted to go all-pro with my family. That matters way more to me than the downs I played on the field, and that cycle will continue now.”

Starting in June, the district will be closed on Fridays as central team members begin to work the summer schedule four-day week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monthly employees

Employees paid monthly will work the four-day work week from June 2 through July 25, 2025. Monthly employees will resume their regular work hours on July 28. 

Biweekly employees

Employees paid biweekly will work a four-day workweek from June 6 through July 24. Biweekly employees will not work on June 6 if they participate in the four-day workweek. Biweekly employees who participate in the four-day workweek will resume their regular hours on July 25.

Employees are responsible for consulting with their supervisor to determine the start, end, and lunch times of their daily work schedule during the summer. Employees approved to take a working lunch will only be required to stay at the worksite or be available remotely for 10 hours. Employees will be compensated for the working lunch time, and it will be considered part of the regular work hours.

Supervisors may allow employees to work a schedule other than the four-day workweek so long as the change does not negatively affect the department functions. Some departments may choose to return to the regular work schedule sooner. Decisions regarding the work schedule are at the discretion of the department supervisor. In addition, departmental leadership may modify the employees’ work schedule to meet campus, departmental, or district needs at any time. Any event such as New Teacher Academy or a back-to-school program may require a change to the work schedule in order to provide support. Campus principals will make the determination of implementing a four-day workweek based on the needs of their campus and with executive director approval.

Juneteenth and summer break

The district will be closed on June 19 for the Juneteenth holiday. Pay for the holiday will be 10 hours of paid time for 260-day staff paid biweekly rather than the normal eight hours.

The district will be closed for summer break from June 30 through July 4. Employees will not be permitted to work for pay while the district is closed unless the employee has received prior written approval from their department chief. All central employees will return to work on July 7.

The Dallas ISD Board of Trustees approved the district’s 2025-2026 budget, which included a 2% raise for exempt campus and central team members, differentiated increases for team members in excellence initiatives, and an increase to $17 an hour in the district’s minimum wage. 

The increases in salaries for all team members amount to $35.9 million in the 2025-2026 budget and focus on the district’s compensation priorities: market competitive salaries, Dallas ISD’s commitment to a living wage, strategic compensation, and stipends for service at identified District Support Initiative campuses.  

Increases for excellence initiatives

The budget also sets the minimum teacher salary at $64,000 and has adjustments to the new hire schedule for teachers to match market rates. Returning teachers will receive a projected average teacher salary increase of approximately $2,235 or 3.6%, based on the greater of three increases:

• Change to effectiveness level
• Change to compensation level value
• Board approved differentiated salary increase  (2% of compensation level)

Proposed TEI compensation levels

The budget also includes increases for other employees who are evaluated through an excellence initiative—assistant principals, principals, school leadership executive directors. Increases for excellence initiative team members are paid in October 2025 retroactive to contract start date. 

Minimum wage and other central increases

The increase to $17 per hour in the minimum wage continues to place Dallas ISD as a regional leader in minimum wage among area school districts and primarily impacts support and operations team members.

Employees not on an excellence initiative will see the greater of two increases:

• Minimum wage adjustment to $17 per hour or
• 2% of the midpoint for support (non-exempt) employees and professional (exempt) employees

Campus and central team members who are not on an excellence initiative will see their increase reflected in their paychecks starting in September if they were hired before Dec. 31, 2024.

Even while schools are out for summer, help is always available. Whether team members have questions about benefits, need health support, or just someone to talk to, they are covered.

Summer district hours

From June 2 through Aug. 1, the district will be open Monday through Thursday and closed on Fridays. It will be closed entirely from June 30 through July 4 for the summer break.

Still here for you

Even when offices are closed, assistance is just a phone call away.

Benefits Call Center
Call 972-925-4000 and select the appropriate option:
• Option 1 – Benefits Administration
• Option 2 – Leaves Administration
• Option 3 – Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Non-emergency health support

TRS ActiveCare participants can access medical support anytime through Teladoc.

Important: You must set up your Teladoc account before using the service. To register, you’ll need:
• Your name
• Date of birth
• BCBS Member ID

Visit the Teladoc website or use the mobile app for access.

Need Emotional Support?

Those feeling overwhelmed or facing challenges, can access the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that is available 24/7 to provide confidential support.

Call 972-925-4000, Option 3 or access support through:
• Website: Telus Health
• App: Telus Health One

To log in, use your district email, username, and password.