Central Staff News

When people walk into lead custodian Frank Craig’s office at Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard, they are greeted by a whiteboard full of notes from students with messages similar to, “Thank you for keeping our building clean.”  

Dallas ISD is joining those students in honoring and celebrating the district’s custodians on National Custodian Day on Oct. 2 because of their commitment to Core 4 customer service and their passion for creating safe, clean environments for students and team members alike. 

Craig, a proud member of the Custodial Services team, has three decades of experience in the field, and said the “positive impact” he makes on students as well as their interactions have kept him passionate about his job each and every day.

“Some people don’t get excited about work, but when I back out of my garage every morning, I have a smile on my face,” Craig said. “These kids are wonderful. I wouldn’t trade the atmosphere here for the world. I mean, I love it here. They treat me as if there is nothing I cannot do in this building.”

Each morning starts around 6 a.m. as Craig ensures Principal Marissa Tavallaee’s office is ready, turns the lights on, double checks the air conditioning, and walks the building to take care of any necessary work orders as quickly as possible. Then he proceeds to collaborate with his small team to guarantee their campus is “clean from top to bottom.” 

Together, they work to ensure their principal is satisfied with the state of the school, because, in Craig’s words, “As long as our principal is happy, that means I’m happy and everybody else is happy.”

Being focused, fast, flexible, and friendly comes naturally to Craig, who made a point to thank the incredible leaders and team members in Dallas ISD who have helped him progress in his career and treated him with the utmost respect over the years. But ultimately, he said it is the students who make every day worthwhile. 

“I love putting a smile on their faces,” Craig said. “You never know what these kids are going through. It’s more about the students than it is about anything, and sometimes we are the only people that they can talk to. That’s what makes me come to work every morning.”

Every employee evaluated through the Career management System should submit two or three job-specific SMART goals by Thursday, Oct. 5.

Goal setting takes place in the Career Management System in Cornerstone.  To help team members and their appraisers with the goal setting process and goal accomplishment, the district has updated the CMS individual goals rubric that can be found here. Other resources available to team members include the Goals Setting Process guide and Goal Setting webinar. 

The deadline for appraisers to have had a conference with each direct report and approve the goals in Cornerstone is Thursday, Oct. 19. Appraisers can reopen the employee step If needed.  You may send the goal-setting task back to the employee to make edits by selecting ‘Reopen Step‘ at the bottom of the page.  You may also edit the goals directly.  For steps click here.

The Performance Management team is here to assist with any questions or concerns.  Please contact us at careermanagement@dallasisd.org or (972) 749-5712.

Fine arts teacher Lindsay Dear kicked off 2023 with a New Year’s resolution to get out of her comfort zone. Since then, she has not only gotten to present at a national conference, but her art was also selected to be displayed in the Dallas Mayor’s Suite in City Hall. 

“As art teachers, we ask our students to push themselves, and I think it’s easy to be single minded in pushing them without pushing ourselves,” Dear said. “I wanted to show my students how to take chances.” 

So last school year, Dear, a teacher at William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted, entered her “Seasons of Dallas” painting when Innovation Lab applications opened up and soon found out that her piece had been selected for the Mayor’s Suite.

“I’m a Dallas native,” Dear said. “My family is from Pleasant Grove, so it feels very specific to Dallas, and it means a lot.”

Dear has served the district as an educator since 2004, and said her favorite part of teaching is seeing students embrace and hone their talents in and out of the classroom. 

She also loves the opportunities her campus provides, such as a partnership with the Dallas Museum of Art called the Travis Takeover, where students in every grade level have an opportunity to collaborate with the museum and display their art.

“This year I’m focusing a lot on helping them get their art out and getting outside their comfort zone,” Dear said. “Sometimes, artwork can be really personal to you, and so you don’t want to share that with a lot of people, but there are opportunities out there that might spark your interest in something new. So I am encouraging them—and myself—to take risks.”

Dear’s “Seasons of Dallas” will be on display in City Hall through January 2024, and Dallas ISD team members are invited to check it out. 

The Early Learning Department has launched an iPad 4 Early Learning Educator series to help educators in prekindergarten through second grade enhance learning and spark creativity among young learners. 

The twice-monthly virtual sessions will cover topics that will help teachers explore literacy, enhance learning, and spark creativity among their students. It will also help them better access multimedia tools with apps, such as Keynote, to enrich literacy. Teachers can earn Apple Teacher badges along the way, culminating in Apple Teacher Recognition. Sessions will also cover designing digital journals with the iPad, as well as making movies and creating podcasts. 

Browse the session descriptions and register for individual sessions at: bit.ly/ipad4eleducator or by scanning the QR code on the flyer.

When Daniel Negrete was a student at Woodrow Wilson High School, one of his friends asked him to join the ballet folklorico ensemble. He eventually joined, and his performance of “El Jarabe Tapatio” in front of the whole student body during a pep rally changed his life. 

Performing in front of a live audience sparked something in Negrete, making him think “Wouldn’t it be great if I could do this forever?” 

In a full circle for him, Negrete returned to Woodrow as a teacher and is now the head director for the iconic Sweethearts drill team, assists Marissa Marez with the Woodrow dance company, co-directs Montes Ballet Folklorico with Marez, and both teach dance arts. He previously taught dance at Emmett J. Conrad High School. Returning to the school where his passion for dance was ignited feels surreal to Negrete, a six-year veteran of the profession.

“I’m teaching my high school dance director’s daughter, talk about full circle, and I’m teaching the community that gave me the tools that helped me find my pathway in life,” said the East Dallas native. 

A few years ago, Negrete was contacted by a colleague about writing the curriculum for Mexican American Folkloric Dance Studies, which did not exist as a dance course. Negrete and Quan Powers, along with a team of dance educators, created the Dance Appreciation: African American and Mexican Folkloric Studies course, which was approved by the Texas Education Agency. It was first implemented during the 2020-2021 school year as a statewide course.

Negrete wrote the Mexican Folklorico Dance course, while Quan Powers took the lead in the African American Dance Studies course. 

Negrete and his team had the challenge of creating a curriculum that represented what he calls “the face of Mexico.” They looked at important rituals, celebrations, and events that formulate Mexican folklore. One of the challenges they faced was that some traditions are passed down through storytelling.

Negrete has observed that students in his course are surprised about how diverse Mexico is.

“People don’t know about Afro-Mexican cultures and how much it has influenced Mexican dance,” said Negrete. 

Through his work, Negrete hopes he is breaking stereotypes, inspiring his students to embrace who they are, and finding an appreciation for their community like he did as a student. 

While cultural dance is celebrated in his family, he felt that it was initially seen more like a hobby, rather than a livelihood. Negrete admits to having received some pushback from his family in the beginning, but he was able to shift their mindset once he began studying dance at Texas Woman’s University and became a dance educator. He is a first-generation college graduate, and it was his mother who taught him the phrase “echale ganas y ponte las pilas,” which encouraged him to “give it his all.”

“I was brought up thinking that men usually work outside or have labor intensive jobs,” Negrete said. “Dance is also very laborious, but in a different way.” 

Finding the connection with his Mexican roots was a bit of a journey for Negrete, who was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, before his family moved to the United States. He credits dance and his teachers for helping him reconnect with his heritage and find an appreciation for other cultures.

“As a teen, I didn’t like being Mexican, and I was very reluctant to accept my culture for a while,” said Negrete. “Through dance, I learned to embrace my culture and explore who I really was.” 

Negrete credits his dance teachers during his formative years for instilling a passion for advocacy for Latino and African American students. 

As an advocate for cultural dance, he co-founded the North Texas Ballet Folklorico Competition, along with fellow dance educators Leah Longoria-Huggins and Karla Hardaway. The dance competition, which attracts ballet folklorico teams from Dallas ISD and the state, is entering its third year. For more information about the North Texas Ballet Folklorico Competition, click here 

Negrete is also the first male Latino on the executive board of the Texas Dance Education Association, and is only the second male in the history of the board. He has facilitated presentations and discussions on inclusion and diversity in the dance classroom and has shared his knowledge of ballet folklorico through movement classes with other dance educators in the state of Texas. 

As a male dancer and dance educator, he knows he is opening doors for other male dancers, especially Latinos and men of color. 

“Visibility is important for the students and community, sometimes we’re so unaware that the arts can take you to a plethora of careers,” he said. “You can change lives with the arts.”

In addition to teaching, Negrete also dances with two companies—Flamenco Black, which focuses on the exploration of Afro-Andalusian flamenco dance, and Ballet Folklorico Mayahuel, which focuses on Mexican traditional dances.

Negrete credits his cultural strength and his resilience with being able to realize his vision and dreams. 

“It’s in my DNA and in my ancestry,” said Negrete. “Being a brown man in dance, and as challenging as it could be, the most rewarding thing is instilling culture, values and history in our youth.” 

Worrying is not always an unhealthy practice as the feeling can help us make plans and prioritize safety, but too much of it can begin to negatively impact our personal and professional lives. 

Signs of excessive worrying include being overly critical of ourselves and others, thinking obsessively about an issue, having trouble sleeping, imagining worst-case scenarios, feeling incapable of making decisions, experiencing physical sensations like a churning stomach or headaches, and feeling a lack of self-confidence. 

To better manage your worries and keep them from transitioning into excessive anxiety, try incorporating the following practices into your life. 

Start small. You do not have to cross off everything on your to-do list at once. Break a task into smaller pieces and set a goal of accomplishing one step. This can help you move forward even when you are feeling overwhelmed. 

Practice acceptance. You can control some things in life, but many situations and concerns will be out of your control. Learn to recognize which ones you do have power over and practice coping with the rest. For example, if you hear something upsetting in the news, take time to practice self-care and step away if you need to. 

Take a holistic approach. The mind-body connection is a powerful one. Try exercising, meditating, eating healthy meals, and maintaining a regular sleep schedule to decrease tension and anxiety. 

Rely on others. You are not alone. Schedule time to talk with a trusted friend or relative each day, even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes. Feeling connected by venting or chatting with others can help you manage and soothe your worries. 

Recognize your thought patterns. Worrying can lead us to jumping to conclusions or assuming the worst. Practice recognizing when your thoughts are shifting to excessive worrying so you can better manage and disrupt those thoughts. Incorporating affirmations or words of encouragement into your daily routine could be a good place to start. 

Schedule a short time to worry. It sounds counterintuitive, but setting up a regular time to address your concerns can be a helpful coping tool. Once those 10 minutes are up, move on with your day knowing you already gave thought to the issue and potential solutions, or simply expressed your feelings. 

If you need additional support, take advantage of Dallas ISD’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) by LifeWorks, which is free for employees, 100 percent confidential, and available to all employees and their dependents. 

Sessions through the EAP are available by phone, virtual, and in person. Employees can also find tips, articles, self-assessments, and topical features focusing on specific EAP resources available through the EAP smart App.

To start on your wellness journey please visit dallasisd.lifeworks.com or reach out to the EAP by calling 972-925-4000 and selecting option 3 for EAP. 

Source: LifeWorks 

Since he was a student going through the deaf education program at W.W. Samuell High School, Bobby White has known he wanted to return to Dallas ISD as a teacher to provide high-quality services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

Now, with 20 years of teaching experience and 10 years serving the district, White is bringing awareness to the importance of sign language and other resources in honor of the International Day of Sign Languages in September and beyond. 

As a deaf education teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, White said one of his favorite parts of being an educator is being a “sounding board” for his students.

“One of the biggest issues related to sign language is that many of our deaf students’ families do not know how to sign with them,” White said. “Nowadays we have technology where they are able to communicate with their families, but they do not have that one-on-one direct language access. So when these kids arrive at school, they are finally able to meet someone who signs with them, someone they can communicate with, and you can see in the mornings that they’re just excited to be here because they’re able to sign and communicate and talk.” 

White recalls working with a middle school student who was grieving the loss of his mother. The student struggled so much that White said he “almost did not get promoted to high school.” But the student did move forward and enrolled in some of White’s classes. Seeing that the student needed additional encouragement, White began having breakfast and lunch with the student to provide academic assistance and prompted him to get involved in clubs on campus.

The student joined the wrestling team, and White worked with the student, his coaches, and his interpreters over the next four years. He watched the student become a champion on the wrestling team, take on leadership roles, and ultimately walk across the graduation stage in 2019.

“Just recently he sent me an invitation to attend the christening for his first son, so I was extremely excited about that,” White said. “I think the biggest success story for me is working with these students, providing them with communication and access, and giving them the opportunity to be a kid and to be successful.”

Dallas ISD’s deaf education program supports these students by providing them with interpreters in the classroom as well as at after-school activities. The Benefits Department has partnered with organizations like the Deaf Action Center to expand the number of interpreters available, while the Dallas Regional Day School Program for the Deaf delivers additional support to over 600 students across the district. Additionally, Translation Services provides ASL interpretation at meetings to help educators and parents communicate and create more opportunities for students. 

Ultimately, the work is collective, and White said he hopes awareness about the importance of sign language and deaf education will continue to spread.

“Our deaf students need communication,” he said. “Especially at our campuses with deaf students, be mindful and aware. It would be so awesome if team members could learn something as simple as “good morning” or “hello” in sign language. They are simple signs you can learn online that will put a smile on a student’s face.”

Dallas ISD team members are invited to a special professional development event featuring educator, author and TV personality Ron Clark. The event is free for staff but registration is required. 

The Racial Equity Office is hosting “Keeping It Real with Ron” from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Ellis Davis Field House. Clark, founder of the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, will give leaders, teachers, faculty, and staff tools to help students achieve high levels of success. 

The event will have a game show theme allowing participants to participate in several familiar games and win prizes. A grand prize will be awarded for continuous professional development to attend The Ron Clark Academy for an immersive educational experience. Also, the first 75 team members to enter the venue will receive a free Ron Clark Book and meet him for a book signing.

REO is asking schools that have implemented Clark’s house systems at their campus to send pictures to racialequity@dallasisd.org so they can be featured during the event.

Register at bit.ly/realwithron.  Fill out this form to be selected for the “Ask Ron” Q&A.

Creating opportunities for students takes many forms, from tutoring and career fairs to providing them with essential resources. When teacher Julian Beltran and community liaison Maribel Roca realized not all students at the School for the Talented and Gifted in Pleasant Grove had access to hygiene products, they took it upon themselves to solve the problem, and now the school’s hygiene bank is helping their community thrive. 

“Essentially, what we wanted to do was serve the whole student,” Beltran said. “We want them to have a sense of belonging, and the hygiene bank serves what I’m calling the learning community. It’s open to anyone who is a student or is related to a student here—parents, siblings, or guardians have access as well.”

Roca and Beltran worked together to find a way to hand out the supplies without drawing unwanted attention to the students. Their solution? A Google form that parents or guardians can fill out to have free hygiene supplies delivered quietly to their students in class.

“Every Monday I’ll check the form and start filling it up,” Beltran said. “I recently had a student who came from gym to ask for deodorant and had no embarrassment about it. Before, that would have been something that might have been awkward, but we’ve opened up these conversations and let them know that everyone needs hygiene products. We’re going to talk about it and do something about it. That makes us feel really good.”

Beltran and Roca said they have received requests from students who need hygiene products for their siblings at other campuses, and parents have told them they were thankful to get support while they were waiting for a paycheck to come. 

They currently have about 52 families making requests through the Google form, and that does not include the students who come to them directly. Those families can continue to make requests as long as they need support with no questions asked. 

The hygiene bank has turned into a true community effort, Beltran said. Its shelves are stocked thanks to community partnerships, a DonorsChoose campaign, an Amazon Wish List, and contributions from the community. Its impact has been clear.

“We just want everyone to feel confident when it comes to hygiene, whether it’s students, parents, former students, or anyone who’s at the house,” Beltran said. “That’s what matters to us. We just want everyone to feel their best.”

Peggy Sanchez, a campus manager in HCM, has dedicated 23 years to Dallas ISD, where she discovered her passion for making sure schools have the team members they need to be successful. The district is highlighting her accomplishments in honor of Human Resource Professional Day. 

The national day is celebrated annually to recognize the hard work these professionals pour into helping organizations run smoothly. Dallas ISD’s Human Capital Management teams are among them, leading transformation and creating opportunities by focusing on the greatest asset in the district—the people—and ensuring there are highly effective employees in every position. 

Sanchez has worked in a variety of roles in the department, all of them related to putting the right people in the right positions. Currently, she oversees a team that hires campus employees, from teachers to school monitors and parking lot attendants.

“People I supported over a decade ago still remember my name, even though they may only have seen me that first time we met for their hiring appointment,” Sanchez said. “I have had many of those—teachers, teacher assistants, and even custodians—who see my name and say, ‘You were the person who onboarded me. I had a good experience.’ That makes me feel good. We’re giving opportunities to new candidates who come to the district, and they feel that they were welcome and that we took care of them from the beginning.”

Sanchez is motivated not only by her desire to support students in Dallas ISD but also by her own children. 

“My kids came from Dallas ISD,” she said. “My youngest one is a senior this year, so I really have a passion to make sure we have the best teachers in the classroom. It’s a big satisfaction. I love doing what I do, and HCM has been a great place for me.”

She said she is proud of her team and the way they keep Core 4 customer service at the forefront of everything they do—focusing on meeting and exceeding deadlines, ensuring new hires have the best possible experience, and managing ever-changing responsibilities and schedules with a smile. 

“Within my 23 years in the district, I have built a lot of strong relationships,” Sanchez said. “I’ve met a lot of people, and I always do my best on anything I put my hands on. We’re opening doors for the future. I just see everything as an opportunity, and building those relationships and being friendly has helped me a lot.”