Campus Staff News

Dallas ISD is asking parents to let us know their opinions about their children’s schools and other topics that will help us improve schools and the district overall. You can share your opinions by responding to the 2021 Parent Survey.

To share your opinion:

1. Click on this link
2. Choose your language
3. Enter your child’s student ID number
4. If you have more than one child in the same school, enter the student ID number of the oldest child (fill out only one survey per school)
5. Choose the school
6. Answer and submit the survey
7. If you have children at more than one school, please follow the steps for each of the schools

If you have any questions about how your feedback will be used, you may call 972-925-3505.  If you experience technical difficulties with the survey, send an email to the survey team at surveyresearch@dallasisd.org.

Dallas ISD educators can now apply for the $20,000 William H. Cotton Scholarship, established by Credit Union of Texas to honor the legacy of Cotton’s 46 years of dedication and service to Dallas ISD and the Credit Union of Texas.

The scholarship is awarded to one district educator or administrator seeking to pursue continuing post-baccalaureate education, including certifications, to further their career in the field of education for the benefit of the Dallas ISD community and its students. Cotton was a long-time principal and administrator who was also the first African-American president of the Dallas School Administrators Association. He retired in 2000 as an associate superintendent.

The completed scholarship application should be emailed or postmarked no later than June1.

Who is eligible?

1. Applicant must be a CUTX member with a checking account prior to submitting an application.
2. Checking account, and all other accounts at CUTX, must be in good standing.
3. Must be a full-time or part-time Dallas ISD faculty or administrator.
4. Must be intended to further your career in education and serve the Dallas ISD community during the course of the scholarship term.
5. Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.
6. All required attachments must be submitted with your application (see below).
7. CUTX employees and family members of CUTX employees are NOT eligible for this scholarship.

What you should attach.

1. The completed application
2. A professional resume.
3. Proof of current Dallas ISD employment (contract or pay stub).
4. Two current letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a professional/scholastic reference and one from a personal reference. Each letter should be dated and include the name, address, and phone number of the referrer. The letter must state how long and in what capacity the referrer knows the applicant.
5. A typed essay. All applications must include a typed essay between 500-600 words about the top three challenges Dallas ISD faces in the next five years. You should also describe your goals and vision to overcome each of these challenges.

The rules

Incomplete applications or those missing any required attachments will not be considered.

Applications postmarked after the deadline will not be considered.

Scholarship funds will be paid directly to the educational institution. Continued disbursement of scholarship funds requires a grade of C or better in a graded course and passing in a pass/fail course.

The scholarship value will be awarded in increments of $5,000 per semester over a period of four semesters.

Email the completed scholarship and attachments to cottonscholarship@cutx.org. Email is preferred, but you can mail to William H. Cotton Scholarship Committee, Credit Union of Texas, P.O. Box 7000, Allen, Texas 75013-1305

The Special Education Department will be helping families prepare their children for life after high school through its Transition Fair 2021. The three-day fair will offer information and resources through a variety of session taking place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 13–15.

The event will feature guest speakers and interactive activities that target key topics and areas of support to ensure families are knowledgeable of resources needed for students to reach lifelong goals.

Day #1–April 13th: GET READY

• Vocational and Information Sessions

Day #2–April 14th: GET SET

• College, Career, and Military Readiness

Day #3—April 15th: GO

• Agencies and Resources

Register at DISDTransitionFair.eventbrite.com.

In today’s technology rich environments, eyes are continuously fixed on the computer monitor during the day and smartphones or other hand-held devices after hours. This constant strain and stress on the eyes can give rise to vision problems have given rise to eye problems. Fortunately, a series of simple exercises can restore your eye fitness.

Whether you use these suggested eye exercises or download an app that guides you through other activities to give your eyes a rest and keep them in fighting shape, benefits of eye fitness include:

• Improvements to general vision
• Lower risk of developing eye diseases
• Lower incidence of dry eyes
• Reduction in eye strain
• Improvement in concentration
• Boost to peripheral vision

Exercise your eyes

• Relax your eye muscles by placing your hands together palm to palm and rub them together briskly to warm them up. Place your palms gently over your eyes and allow your eyes to relax. Do not let light in. Do this whenever you have time during the day.
• Before going to sleep, massage your eye lids and eye muscles by gently rubbing your finger in a circular direction for at least two minutes. Massaging your eyes can help to relax your eye muscles.
• Constantly blinking your eyes is a very simple way to keep your eyes fresh and avoid eyestrain. Computer users should blink every three to four seconds.
• During the day take eye breaks from the computer and change your range of vision by focusing your eyes on an object that is far away and looking back at a nearby object. Repeat this transition several times.
• Without moving your head, switch your vision to look to the left and to the right. You can do this by simply looking to each side or by following a pen or pencil as you move it from the center to the side, back to the center and the to the other side.

While exercising your eyes can help you stay fit, remember that regular exam with a professional are recommended.

Can you recognize the signs of stress and do you know how to manage it? Managing stress is part of maintaining good mental health.

You can learn more about why mental health is important and how to maintain it by attending Dallas ISD’s Mental Health Matters Virtual Symposium on Saturday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event, hosted by Mental Health Services will feature recorded presentations and a live Q&A. There will be English and Spanish presentations on topics such as parenting, bullying, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and more. For more information or to register, please visit www.mentalhealthmattersdallas.com.

Until then, if you are having stress or other mental health issues, Lifeworks, the district’s employee assistance program can help.

The first step in managing stress is to become aware of the early warning signs so you address the sources of stress in your life and treat stress with proven techniques. Once you learn to recognize your own reactions to stress, you can begin to treat it effectively. Some signs and symptoms you might notice include:

• difficulty sleeping
• headaches
• working to exhaustion
• being irritable
• loss of appetite for food, fun or sex
• stomach pain or upset stomach
• neck or back pain
• fatigue
• tearfulness
• smoking or drinking more
• loss of sense of humor
• forgetfulness
• trembling, nervous tics
• chest pain
• heart palpitations or shortness of breath
• excessive perspiration
• eating too much or too little
• over-exercise
• dry mouth
• feeling tired/lack of energy
• obsessive behavior
• loss of interest in other people
• a feeling that everything is pointless
• inability to focus and concentrate
• high levels of anxiety and worry

If you are experiencing five or more from the above list, you may be suffering from stress and should consider ways to manage it more effectively. Each of us responds to stress differently. Chronic stress contributes to heart disease and heart attacks. It also suppresses our immune system leaving us more vulnerable to disease.

Lifeworks offers tips and resources to help Dallas ISD employees deal with stress in a productive and healthy way. Visit dallasisd.lifeworks.com or www.dalllasisd.org/benefits for more information.

You can also download this guide to managing stress and this guide and resources to help you deal with thoughts of self-harm.

Samuel Hawkins found his true calling eight years ago when he quit his job as a successful car salesman to teach math to children in struggling schools. A year ago, he brought his passion to an eighth-grade math classroom at Sarah Zumwalt Middle School, one of Dallas ISD’s high priority campuses.

Math was always his favorite subject, and when he started tutoring students—including some in Dallas ISD schools—through his church, he saw how they struggled and how that affected their self-confidence. That’s when he decided he wanted to spend all his time helping these students succeed, not just in math but in all aspects.

“I k new I wanted to work with kids who, according to statistic, couldn’t get the math,” he said. “I wanted to make them feel better about themselves, show them that they can. I liked taking on the ones who kept hearing no and teaching them so they can hear yes.”

Hawkins quit his job at the Arlington dealership, started working as a substitute, passed a content exam and breezed through an alternative certification program to become a math teacher. After working at several area districts and making a difference at each of the schools where he taught, he knew he wanted to Dallas ISD and a neighborhood where his family is from.

He has always chosen to work in Title I campuses—schools with high percentages of students from low-income backgrounds—because he knows that is where he can make the greatest impact.

“The kids need to know that somebody [in school] cares for them,” he said. “You establish that relationship where they know you have their back and want the best of them, and they go from feeling cut off from the world to being engaged. Money can’t equal that experience when you see the change first-hand, face to face.

“It wasn’t the money that made me choose [a high priority campus,] because I made more money selling cars,” he added. “It was about making impact. I always want to be in an area where I can impact our future, and this is the best way you can do it.”

Teachers, instructional coaches, and counselors who want to bring their passion for making a difference in young minds and lives can take advantage of the district’s open transfer period for high priority campuses that continues through April 23. For eligibility requirements, go here.

Working at a high priority campus has benefits beyond making a difference. Eligible teachers serving at high priority campuses in the 2021-2022 school year will:

• Earn additional DTR points on the TEI Scorecard, replacing the existing Tier I process.
• Earn additional stipends.

Because the safety and well-being of staff is a top priority for Dallas ISD, the district continues to establish partnerships to provide access to vaccines for employees. Through a partnership with Methodist Health System—which operates a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at its flagship hospital, Methodist Dallas Medical Center—staff who work and live in the southern sector have convenient access to schedule a vaccine appointment.

Schedule an appointment by registering with Methodist at https://vaccine.mhd.com/MyChart/covid19/#/. Appointments can also be scheduled by calling 214-933-6200.

The vaccination clinic is located at Methodist Dallas, 1441 N Beckley Ave., Dallas, TX 75208. Parking instructions will be included in the email confirmation once an employee makes an appointment. People with appointments can generally expect to be in and out of the vaccine clinic in about an hour. Bring a photo ID and notify the Methodist team that you work at Dallas ISD.

Employees can also continue to sign up for vaccines at Dallas County, Parkland Memorial Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and other community organizations.

The vaccine is an important part of establishing a safe environment for all staff and students, and we would like to know how many employees have been vaccinated or are scheduled to receive the vaccine. An accurate count of staff vaccinations will also help Dallas ISD continue to work with health service organizations in the community to secure additional vaccines for all staff.

If you have received a COVID-19 vaccine or you are scheduled to receive it, please complete the form below.

COVID-19 vaccine information form

As the vaccination efforts open up to additional segments of the population, the district is working with Dallas County to ensure that Dallas ISD staff have priority in getting the vaccine. If you have not yet received your vaccine, please, fill out the district’s form that will be shared with the county to ensure priority in scheduling.

Parkland Memorial Hospital is also open for vaccinations for all adults and is asking those who still need a vaccine to schedule their vaccine appointments by creating a Parkland MyChart account.  You can find information on the Parkland website https://www.parklandhospital.com/covid-19-vaccines or by downloading this information sheet.

Vaccines are also available from other providers. For links to other vaccine providers, click here for a previous story.

The eyes can be windows to your overall health, revealing diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. That’s why annual eye exams are an important part of a thorough health maintenance plan.

Any ophthalmologist who does even a routine eye exam can detect disease throughout the body, according to Dr. Rishi P. Singh, an ophthalmologist in the Cleveland Clinic. Eye exams can reveal if there are issues affecting multiple organs or the entire body.

Sometimes problems with your vision can be related to or even caused by a larger health issue even if you are completely asymptomatic.

Diabetes

Ophthalmologists look for a condition called diabetic retinopathy. This condition damages the blood vessels in the eye, and the damage can be observed even before vision is affected. Normally, areas of bleeding and swelling in the retina or abnormal blood vessel development, which are telltale signs of diabetic damage, can be seen during an eye exam. Upon detection, laser treatment and medications to repair blood vessels could be recommended, and if the bleeding is severe enough, surgery could be a treatment option.

Hypertension

The first clue that a patient is suffering from hypertension is damage to their vision that affects the blood flow within the eye caused by high blood pressure. Screening is key since a lot of small vascular changes to the eye don’t affect your vision until very late in the disease. Scenarios like eye strokes associated with carotid artery disease, which demand serious attention, may be a future predictor of cerebral strokes and can be found in a simple routine vision screen. Early attention can save a life.

Inflammatory conditions

Early warning signs of such inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis and lupus can be seen in the eyes. Inflammatory diseases cause inflammation of the uvea in the middle of the eye, causing uveitis which can cause permanent damage to your eyes if untreated.

Taking time for a yearly eye exam not only protects your eyes, but ultimately can safeguard your overall health. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that adults with no risk factors should get a baseline exam at 40 and then screenings at regular intervals. Those who wear corrective lenses should get an exam every year.

Stories about fraudulent unemployment claims have recently been in the news, and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has reported receiving an increased number of fraudulent unemployment claims filed throughout the state.

As part of the claim process, TWC will notify Dallas ISD of unemployment claims filed by district employees for purposes of verification. The district can verify if an employee is still active, but all unemployment claims are filed directly with TWC, and any issues should be addressed directly with the workforce commission.

If you have been notified or have reason to believe that a fraudulent unemployment claim was filed on your behalf, please visit the links below for helpful information about handling fraudulent claims from the Texas Workforce Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Texas Workforce Commission Reporting Fraud 

https://www.twc.texas.gov/reporting-fraud

Important Information About Unemployment Insurance Fraud

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/TXWC/bulletins/2c8d6a2

TWC Investigating Potential Fraud Cases

https://www.twc.texas.gov/news/twc-investigating-potential-fraud-cases

US Department of Labor

US Department of Labor launches website for victims of unemployment fraud | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov)

Report Unemployment Identity Theft | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov)

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Cómo manejar el fraude en las solicitudes de pagos por desempleo

Recientemente ha habido artículos en los medios acerca de fraude en las solicitudes para recibir pagos por desempleo, y la Texas Workforce Commission (TWC, por sus siglas en inglés) también ha reportado un número mayor de casos de fraude en todo el estado.

Como parte del proceso de las solicitudes, TWC notifica al Dallas ISD cuando un empleado del distrito somete una solicitud para pagos por desempleo para verificación. El distrito puede verificar si el empleado está activo, pero las solicitudes de pagos por desempleo se someten directamente a al TWC y cualquier problema debe solucionarse directamente con la comisión.

Si se le ha notificado o tiene una razón para creer que ha sido víctima de un fraude en los pagos por desempleo que se han solicitado en su nombre, por favor, visite uno de los enlaces para la TWC y el Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos abajo para encontrar información que lo puede ayudar a resolver la situación.

Texas Workforce Commission

https://www.twc.texas.gov/informacion-en-espanol

Departamento del Trabajo the los Estados Unidos

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/UIIDtheft-es