Central Staff News

Teachers are the engine that makes schools run, and on the week May 5-9—National Teacher Appreciation Week—local and national businesses in the community are taking the time to thank them for all they do to make sure children have brighter futures. Some are concentrating their efforts on National Teacher Day, which takes place on May 6.

If you want to thank a teacher, the National PTA has created a special thank you card that can be downloaded here. 

Special offers for educators:

Dallas Education Foundation. Know an amazing Dallas ISD teacher who goes above and beyond for their students? The Dallas Education Foundation is giving away gift cards to five lucky teachers as part of teacher Appreciation Week. Submit a nomination to give a teacher a chance to win a $200 gift card from the Dallas Education Foundation to support his or her classroom. Fill out this form to tell us why they deserve to win. Nominations close Friday, May 9, so don’t wait. Teachers make a difference every day, so let’s show our Dallas ISD teachers some love.

Whataburger is serving up a Whatasized “thank you” to the real MVPs of our communities—our amazing teachers. For the fourth year in a row, Whataburger is celebrating the everyday heroes who bring heart, hustle and a whole lot of care to the classroom—teachers can swing by from 5 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday for a free breakfast entrée. It’s Whataburger’s way of showing a little love for the big impact they make every single day. Whether they’re team Taquito with cheese, Breakfast on a Bun or all about that Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit, educators and school staff can enjoy their choice of a free breakfast entrée by presenting a valid school ID when ordering for dine-in, drive-thru or takeout. This offer is available in-restaurant only—just swing by the counter or drive-thru at participating locations. This offer is not available at Whataburger.com or through the Whataburger App.

This year, SONIC® is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with a bundle of craveable rewards for educators who belong to the free SONIC Teachers’ Circle rewards program. On May 6, Teachers’ Circle members will receive an extra-large ‘thank you’ in the form of five separate rewards that can be redeemed for various FREE SONIC menu items.* SONIC Teachers’ Circle members can redeem the following delicious deals anytime between May 6 and May 20 with any qualifying purchase:* For more information, click here.

• Buy One SONIC Blast®, Get One Free
• Buy One Entree, Get One Free
• Free SONIC® Cheeseburger with any Purchase
• Free Large Drink or Slush with any Purchase
• Free Small Side with Entrée Purchase

SONIC Teachers’ Circle is a free rewards program exclusively for educators available through the SONIC App.** Any teacher, faculty or staff at a K-12 or degree-granting university can sign up for SONIC Teachers’ Circle in the SONIC App and start receiving exclusive rewards. To take advantage of these Teacher Appreciation Week offers, educators must sign up before May 6, when rewards become available.

RaceTrac is giving teachers registered with ID.me a FREE medium coffee every day during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 5-9.  To sign up, visit www.racetrac.com/Rewards/CommunityOffers.

DonorsChoose is encouraging teachers to sign up and create projects before May 5 to take advantage of numerous funding boosts and matching opportunities during #TeacherAppreciationWeek. ​Teachers bring hope, joy, and creativity to students every day. Now, it’s time to bring on the week and celebrate you!​ Submit your request for classroom resources today to join the celebration and make this week unforgettable.

Half Price Books gives teachers and all educators a 10% discount on all purchases year-round with the Educator Discount Card.

Michaels also appreciates teachers year-round a 15% discount on both in-store and online purchases after verifying your educator ID online through the Michaels Rewards program.

Apple offers an education discount on their products when purchased at their stores or online. 

By joining the Star Teacher program, Office Depot offers teachers 10% back in rewards on ink, toner, and paper, 1% back in rewards on nearly everything else, and a 15% instant discount from Design, Print, & Ship Depot™.

By enrolling in the Classroom Rewards program at Staples, teachers  can get 5% back on purchases.

If you’re planning to retire in 2025, you have the opportunity to get paid for unused local days. Dallas ISD is honoring team members’ dedicated service with the Retirement Service Award by giving them the chance to receive compensation for any unused local days accrued by June 15, 2025. 

How to qualify 

1. Enter your retirement date in Oracle Self-Service by May 1, 2025.
2. Complete your work days for the 2024-2025 school year.

Team members who have completed both steps, will see the payment for unused local days reflected in the July 15 paycheck. For more details, visit the Dallas ISD Benefits Retirement page or reach out to the Benefits Department at retirement@dallasisd.org or 972-925-4300.

Dallas ISD families will be able to join district and community mental health experts for a day of conversations, learning, resources, giveaways, and more on April 26 at the Empowering Families forum.

The keynote speaker will be The Defensive Line founder Martha Thomas who will share her family’s experience with the suicide of a child, tips on how to talk about suicide and mental health with youth, and resources available for parents. The forum marks the end of Stress Awareness Month in April and the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month in May. 

The forum will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Emmett J. Conrad High School, 7502 Fair Oaks Ave., and is organized by Dallas ISD’s Mental Health Services and Parent Advocacy and Support Services to provide parents a safe space to discuss mental health topics and learn how to help their children deal with stress and other challenges. 

In addition to the keynote speaker, and the opportunity to take part in confidential conversations with Dallas ISD mental health professionals, parents will be able to attend small group sessions on topics, such as:  

• Anxiety and its effects on mental health
• Signs of depression and strategies to help
• Suicide awareness
• Power of parents—Dangers of underage substance use and abuse
• Parents Connecting
• Father to Son connections
• Supporting parents who are struggling

Interpretation will be available for those who need it in Spanish, Arabic, Burmese, and Pashto. Giveaways and refreshments will also be available for participants. 

When Dallas ISD announced that it acquired 17 electric school buses, Ansley Carlos, bus driver for both Solar Prep Schools and Dallas ISD alumna, never imagined she would be driving one. In fact, had you asked her if it were something she would be open to, she would have balked at the thought.  

“I just knew I wasn’t going to understand anything,” Carlos said. “I wanted nothing to do with it.” 

The district, however, had other plans for Carlos.  

Just this past January, Carlos received training in the safe operation of electric buses, including behind-the-wheel instruction and charging procedures. 

“Our team went through rigorous training by the vendor to ensure that they learned the ins and outs of driving an electric bus and how to charge them,” said Jazmin A. Harrison, executive director of Student Transportation Services. 

Carlos passed training and quickly became one of the “most versed individuals in electric vehicles,” according to Albert Brown, director of Student Transportation Services. Although Carlos is merely following proper procedures and protocol, Brown believes this is all anyone needs to adapt to the novelty of electric vehicles over time.  

“The EV is more complex than diesel-fueled buses, but Ms. Ansley was able to pick up on it quickly,” he said.  

In addition to their eco-friendly designs—including lower noise pollution and emissions-free operation—the new buses provide a smoother driving experience. Particularly, Carlos notes that she does not need to apply much pressure to the brakes before bringing the bus to a complete stop.

“You’re not stomping on the brakes as much as you do in a diesel bus,” she said. 

Students—and even some parents—have remarked how much more comfortable electric buses are than their diesel counterparts. 

Carlos is one of approximately 30 district employees, including substitute drivers, who are trained to operate the electric buses. The initiative’s first phase focused on drivers already on the shortest routes. 

“We were strategic about identifying the routes with the fewer miles traveled per day,” Harrison said. “We had to prioritize safety and take Dallas weather into consideration.” 

The purpose is to track energy consumption and range capacity. In other words, how long can the buses be on the road before they need to be recharged? The buses collect data to “learn,” so to speak, how much energy is needed to complete a run, Brown said. Depending on the results, the district will explore the possibility of extending their use to meet other transportation needs. 

Already, Harrison said, the buses are serving to transport students to field trips.   

While Carlos is pleased with her overall driving experience, she points out that one downside is ensuring the battery does not run completely flat. With an approximate 200-mile range, forgetting to recharge the buses could leave drivers stranded and disrupt services. Moreover, speeding, too, can drain battery life swiftly.  

Carlos acknowledges a further advantage of driving electric buses: the quiet engine allows her to pay closer attention to her charges, especially those with special needs.

“If they’re in trouble, I’ll know,” she said. 

In the meantime, she does not foresee an about-face regarding her newly found preference for electric buses. 

“I don’t want to go back to diesel,” she admitted. “This morning I had to drive a diesel because my EV is in the shop, and I was very confused. I kept looking for the buttons.”   

The electric buses are currently stationed at Lawnview Service Center. The district is planning to equip more service centers with charging capabilities in the coming years.   

In honor of National Volunteer Month this April, Dallas ISD celebrates another year of successfully building relationships and creating meaningful engagement with the district’s volunteers and partners. And one of the people responsible for building these relationships is Tonya Mayberry-Davis.

Mayberry-Davis, a coordinator in Partnerships and Volunteer Engagement, supports the district’s efforts to impact student achievement and success.   

“It is inspiring to see great district programs come to fruition knowing that they benefit the students,” she said.  

Mayberry-Davis has always envisioned a career rooted in community impact. Although both of her parents were educators, she didn’t originally intend to work in education herself—but she was deeply inspired by the impact they made in their community.  

“I saw my parents volunteering and giving back, whether it was with a neighbor or the respective organizations they were a part of,” Mayberry-Davis said. “Seeing them work in volunteerism within the community and learning the importance of giving back made an impression on me.” 

Her journey began at the African American Museum of Dallas, where she was an ExxonMobil intern during college. This led to a full-time position in the development office.  

Mayberry-Davis went on to work at the University of Dallas, where she managed fundraising and community programming, creating scholarships for students.   

“The college collaborated with Partners in Excellence, creating funding for students. I was able to see the first student of this program receive a scholarship and attend the University of Dallas,” she said.

Mayberry-Davis eventually found her way to Dallas ISD, serving as a community liaison at Cesar Chavez Learning Center and Amelia Earhart Elementary School. She eventually joined Partnerships and Volunteer Engagement where she now puts her passion to use making a broader impact across the district. 

For Mayberry-Davis, the MLK Jr. Oratory Competition is one of her most impactful partnerships, inspired by the participation from students and volunteers.  

Each year, Dallas ISD partners with the global law firm, Foley and Lardner LLP, to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to recognize the writing and public speaking skills of elementary school students.

“We have many faculty sponsors that are a part of the event each year,” Mayberry-Davis said. “For example, Ms. Betty Glover from Clara Oliver Elementary School has been with the district for 60 years and has volunteered with the competition for 30 years.”   

Mayberry-Davis plays a key role in supporting the firm and organizing on behalf of the district. She also collaborates  with her colleagues in managing other impactful partnerships and hundreds of volunteers, who collectively donate thousands of hours to benefit students. 

“We are helping to build bridges and make connections for our students. We are bringing social capital to the students through these partnerships,” said Candace Sledge, director of Partnerships and Volunteer Engagement. “It brings me joy knowing we are impacting the students and the communities that affect them.”  

This year alone, volunteers have accumulated 287,000 volunteer hours—a value of over $4 million dollars in time donated supporting the district.  

“It is great to be able to have the opportunity to tell our story and support the students’ needs from a district perspective,” Mayberry-Davis said.  

Firefighters are trained professionals who serve the community by often being the first on the scene in a crisis. Veteran firefighter Rhome Calhoun is not only a role model but is now also an educator as coordinator for Franklin D. Roosevelt High School’s first dual credit fire academy.

In this new role, he is preparing the next generation of first responders by digging into his own lived experience.

“The goal of the program is to produce students who are competent firefighter EMT’s, so that they can go out and get a job anywhere in the state,” Calhoun said. “Their certification will take them anywhere in Texas.” 

Originally from Los Angeles, Calhoun has been a firefighter for 16 years. He began his career in San Bernardino County—the largest county in the United States with 2.2 million residents over a span of 20,000 square miles.  

Calhoun joined Dallas ISD last November and believes his past experiences give him the professionalism, knowledge and real-world expertise to successfully lead the new program. 

He uses the knowledge acquired in the field and real-life scenarios to prepare students, believing the skills they gain can also help them navigate unexpected emergencies in their personal lives.  

Students receive a blended learning experience of hands-on training from Dallas Fire Rescue instructors combined with an academic approach to fire science, taught by Dallas College faculty. 

Calhoun is also a firefighter at Rhome Fire Rescue in Rhome, Texas—a city 50 miles northwest of Dallas. He feels a sense of ownership and pride serving in a department and city that share his name.  

“I’m not retired yet. I am doing the work right now. If someone were to call on a Sunday, or if there was an accident on highway 87, there is a good chance that you would see me there,” Calhoun said. “I want students to know that they have an active member of the fire service to answer their questions.”  

Calhoun’s journey to becoming an educator began while in college in California, where he balanced classes, firefighting and coaching softball.  

While coaching, he developed a passion for making a difference in students’ lives, often hearing from parents that he should become a teacher. After moving to Texas, he became certified through an alternative certification program and taught EMT classes at Northside High School in Fort Worth ISD before joining Dallas ISD. 

Calhoun—who has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from California State University, Fullerton—realized the work of a firefighter can have an impact on your mental health and attributes his day-to-day success to mental strength and exercise. He still coaches softball. 

“You can’t save everyone, even when you try, and that can be hard to deal with,” Calhoun said.  

This reality motivates him as he builds the curriculum for the fire academy. From the student’s first day, Calhoun teaches real world knowledge on how to identify the severity of a bleed and how to recover from a serious one. 

Students were originally only taught CPR in 11th grade, but Calhoun enhanced the program by teaching it sooner, during their freshman year.  

“If the students don’t learn anything else, I want them to know these critical life skills. This passion comes from my direct experience in the field. This is my way of doing something about medical errors I have seen around me.” Calhoun said. 

For the past three years, Lashonda Roberson has served as the librarian at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center. With two decades of experience in Dallas ISD, she is now focusing on preparing students for their next big leap in education.  

“Once I got into education, I realized all the important things that teachers do to establish foundations for students,” she said. “I began to realize how passionate I was about education and that it was a pathway to helping the community. I became a lifelong learner.” 

After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Prairie View A&M University, Roberson became a seventh-grade science teacher at Raul Quintanilla Sr. Middle STEAM Academy. Though she earned her master’s in library science from Texas Woman’s University while in the classroom, she continued teaching there for over 14 years. 

Roberson was not ready to leave the classroom and waited for the right opportunity to become a librarian. She saw her chance to finally step into that role after the previous media specialist at Quintanilla retired. 

“I have always had a keen sense of working with young people,” she said. “Even as a teenager, my friends always would tell me that I would be a great teacher. So, I had a natural path into education.”  

At just 17, Roberson paved her own path to college, relying on the library as a resource to achieve her goals.  

Roberson is driven by a personal commitment to guiding students who are also on college and career pathways. This is rooted in her experience of navigating that journey on her own. 

Roberson spends her day managing the space and updating library resources. She said she feels proud to be able to guide students in accessing information. She has prepared the library to promote student autonomy, encouraging them to explore and conduct research based on their personal needs and steps in only as needed.  

“Our library is very active in the morning. Students know that they can come in before school and start their day,” she said. “They do homework, they socialize, some students print, and students often come in throughout the day with passes from their teacher.”  

Roberson provides opportunities for her students to engage in real world issues and enhance their problem-solving skills early on.  

Last month, Roberson hosted a Health and Culture Fair, engaging over 500 students in the ways food can impact mental health and decision making.  

The event, which included medical professionals from UT Southwestern and Parkland Health, reminded students to prioritize their health as they prepare for their careers.  

Students were encouraged to remember their role as citizens, to give back to society within their respective fields, and to use empathy when looking for ways to bridge gaps in the community.  

Through mindfulness, meditation and scientific knowledge about healthy eating, Roberson is preparing her students to sustain themselves and the world around them.  

“This is my goal—to always plant seeds,” Roberson said. “If we make as much available as possible, then I think it’s going to set a foundation for the students that they will continue to run with.” 

Departments and schools acquiring or receiving donations of capital and controllable assets or disposing of these assets when they are obsolete must follow established policies. 

When receiving capital and controllable assets, departments and schools must indicate the “SHIP TO ADDRESS” as Dallas ISD Central Receiving, 2517 S. Ervay, Dallas Texas 75215.

That way, the equipment will be tagged and distributed to the department or school accordingly.

The exceptions are equipment requiring installation/testing by the vendor. It is the responsibility of the department or school to inform the Capital/Controllable Asset Management Department immediately upon receipt of such equipment.

Best practices for the use of appropriate object codes when acquiring capital assets in Oracle can be found at our website link.   

Departments or schools should not place obsolete or broken equipment in closets, rooms, portable buildings, or open areas. This is a safety and theft risk and poses a fire hazard. Instead, obsolete and non-working capital equipment that needs to be disposed of or transferred between schools and/or departments, or sent to Salvage & Surplus (Kiest Warehouse) should be managed by filling out an Equipment Transfer and Disposal form in Oracle. The form can be found in Employee Self Service, DISD Fixed Asset Self Service. Use this link for instructions regarding the ERR FORM. 

For additional information about the transfer and disposal of Capital equipment, please visit the Capital Assets Management page. For ERR FORM (Capital equipment – transfers/disposals) questions, contact David Kessebeh at (972)925-3842. For tagging Special Revenue (Grants/Special Education), CTE (capital equipment) and Donations (Capital Equipment) questions contact Phiebie Hutchins at (972-925-3857). 

Regarding Transfers and disposals of Controllable Assets (CPU, monitors, laptops, small printers, notebooks etc.) schools/departments must complete an Equipment Transfer and Disposal form in the TIPWEBIT (District apps). For questions on TIPWEBIT, contact Lyn Wilkerson at 972-5801-4109.

The P1B FORMS should be used for all transfers and disposals of office and classroom furniture (chairs, tables, file cabinets, wall units, drawers, credenzas, etc.). For questions on PIB FORMS contact Arthur Harris in the Bulk Transportation Department at 972-925-4765

National School Bus Driver Appreciation Day, April 22, provides a special occasion to honor the dedicated individuals who ensure the safe transportation of students every day. At Dallas ISD, school bus drivers play a crucial role in the lives of students, navigating various weather conditions and ensuring that each child arrives at school safely. Their unwavering commitment to excellence and the positive impact they have is greatly appreciated. 

This year, Student Transportation Services is especially proud to highlight the innovative work undertaken by the department, like the recently incorporated 17 electric school buses, demonstrating a progressive approach to school transportation. Embracing this change not only contributes to a cleaner and healthier environment but also sets a positive example for future generations. These electric buses are a testament to the commitment to sustainability and dedication to providing the best possible service to the community. 

On April 22 and throughout the week, take a moment to commend the diligent efforts of the school bus drivers and celebrate their contribution to educating all students. 

Human Capital Management is preparing to disseminate contracts for the 2025-2026 school year. Electronic contracts will be available for signature for all contract-eligible employees via Oracle Employee Self-Service by April 21, 2025. All contract-eligible employees will receive an email from notifications@dallasisd.org containing instructions on how to complete the acceptance process once contracts are available.

Team members should note that an assignment change into a non-contract eligible position will require the relinquishment of contractual rights.

According to the Texas Education Code, contract-eligible educators are provided a penalty-free resignation deadline 45 days before the first day of instruction of the coming school year. The resignation deadline for this year is June 28, 2025.

Additional information, frequently asked questions, and instructions may be found on the contract home page https://www.dallasisd.org. If you have any questions, contact Human Capital Management at contracts@dallasisd.org.