Central Staff News

Secondary teachers who teach sheltered or English-as-a-second-language courses will have the opportunity to participate in a paid teacher leadership cohort offered through the Dual Language ESL Department over the 2023-2024 fall and spring semester. 

The 2023-2024 ESL Teacher Leadership Cohort has space for approximately 10 to 15 teachers selected from a pool of districtwide candidates who meet the selection criteria. 

The purpose of the ESL Teacher Leadership Cohort is two-fold—to assist teachers in developing action research projects in their classroom and to build instructional capacity to support the academic, linguistic and social needs of emergent bilingual learners, said Stephen Button, instructional specialist in the Dual Language ESL Department.  

The ESL Teacher Leadership Cohort will meet virtually on a monthly basis on Saturday mornings. Daren Stark, supervisor in the Dual Language ESL Department, said cohort members will be approaching professional development from a different perspective.

“Rather than teachers coming in and being given information, teachers are coming in and using their expertise and their professional knowledge and skills to create information and share it with their campuses,” he said. 

According to Stark, the initial session will focus on what teacher action research is. Cohort participants will identify a focus area where their students are struggling, and over several meetings, they will try different approaches and strategies to address it. The ESL Leadership Cohort members will later share their findings with a districtwide audience as part of the 2024 ESL Summer Institute.

Stark said learning to identify problems and solutions is an empowering process.  

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and everything can seem out of your control, especially if you are a new or less experienced teacher,” he said. 

Walt Shields, a coordinator in the Dual Language ESL Department and ESL Leadership Cohort lead, is a former teacher who participated in the cohort the last couple of years and said it helped him in the daily practice in the classroom. 

“It strengthened my presentation skills and gave me an opportunity to network across schools with people who were in the same line of work, who were facing the same kind of challenges,” Shields said. “We were able to continue to grow together even after the training was over.”

Teachers interested in finding out more about the cohort can attend a virtual information session at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5. To learn more about the ESL Leadership Cohort and to express interest about the Oct. 5 information session, fill out this form or send an email to wshields@dallasisd.org. You can also scan the QR code that directs you to the form. 

Dallas ISD’s commitment to the safety and security of all team members and students extends into cyberspace, which is why the district is implementing a new level of security when it comes to sensitive data. 

A Data Loss Prevention solution (DLP) safeguards critical sensitive data that’s available within the district’s network to prevent unintended and unauthorized exposure. The DLP agent runs on team members’ computers to monitor the use and transmission of sensitive and protected data, such as student information, private health information, PII, etc. The definition of sensitive information is outlined in district regulations and included in the annual compliance videos.

What does that mean for me? 

If your work involves handling data that the DLP agent has recognized as potentially containing sensitive information, you may see prompts throughout the course of your day if there is a potential for the action you are performing to lead to unauthorized exposure. For example, you might be sendinding sensitive data through email, a web-form, cloud storage, messaging apps, social media sites, etc., which could lead to exposure.

This doesn’t mean that the action cannot be performed or that it is wrong. It just means that the DLP is flagging it and creating a record of the action, the information about the data involved and details of why you received the prompt for further review by the district’s Information Security team. Receiving the prompt doesn’t necessarily mean that what you are doing is unauthorized or that you are in trouble. 

Information Security has been working to reduce instances in which the DLP flags data that is not sensitive and to avoid generating prompts for uses and transmissions of data that are following secure standard procedures outlined by the district and departments. 

What should I do if I receive a prompt?

Depending on the data you are working with and the actions you are performing, you can either cancel the action by clicking the “Close” button, or you can proceed with the action by choosing the justification that best fits your situation from the “Justification” drop-down menu and click “Continue.”

If you receive a prompt and are unsure about the use of the data or how you are handling it, contact your supervisor.

What if I believe I received a prompt in error?

In some cases, you may receive a prompt when you don’t think you should have. If you don’t believe you should be getting prompts under certain circumstances, please open an incident ticket in ServiceNow and provide the following information in the description:

• The approximate time and date of when you received the prompt
• Your computer’s device name (for Windows: located by right-clicking the Windows Start Menu and selecting “system”. For Mac the device name is the serial number)
• Why you don’t believe you should have received a prompt
• Details about the data you were working with and the actions you were taking—i.e. uploading to a database, pasting into a webform, attaching to an email, etc.

Charlie Diaz Rivera, a first-year teacher at Career Institute East, had been supervising Dallas ISD students in the electrical technology field at one of the district’s industry partners. He is now living his dream of creating opportunities for students and as an Electrical Technology teacher at the school. 

“I was being given this opportunity to help kids to succeed in life, and I saw this as a door that was opening,” Diaz Rivera said. “This was something that I always wanted to do, and now I’m able to do it.”

Becky Barker, industry partner coordinator for Career Institute East, said she is always looking for talented individuals who are passionate about their work and like to work with youths. She noticed the rapport Diaz Rivera had with students he supervised as part of his work with Excell Electric—one of the district’s leading industry partners—and asked him if he wanted to teach. 

Diaz Rivera, who has been in the industry for five years, worked with Dallas ISD students who intern at the company, which also offers seniors jobs after graduation. He welcomed the opportunity to work with the students because he had enjoyed working with youths in the past as a volunteer youth leader, as a pastor, and as a coach. 

Diaz Rivera, who identifies with his students’ challenges, tells them that he understands that each one of them has a story and personal struggles, but that those things shouldn’t define them. 

He reassures them that while some might have challenges in areas such as reading or math, nothing is impossible. Out in the field, there are many opportunities to discover and hone their talents in the industry, so he teaches them the skills they need to get a good job and be successful, he said.

He knows that encouragement and understanding from a teacher can make all the difference—his high school teacher at South Garland High School, Ashley Wills, had such an impact on him. 

“If it wasn’t for her and for the love and guidance that she showed to me and [all] her students, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today,” Diaz Rivera said. 

“She had a lot of patience and a lot of love to give,” he said. “She made sure she took her time to make sure that I understood everything that I did, and made sure that I felt appreciated and that I belonged. That’s how I want my students to feel.”

Diaz Rivera’s hopes and dreams for his students are that they all become business owners and leaders in this industry. 

“Whether it’s owning a mom and pop shop and working your way up, the goal is for each of my students to become masters at what they do, and to keep growing—the sky’s the limit,” he said. 

Not only is Diaz Rivera teaching his students skills to be successful, he’s also teaching them to be confident. He believes that by giving his students opportunities, they can break out of their comfort zones. 

“As long as you have that confidence, and we can build you up, the possibilities are endless,” he said.

National IT Professionals Day is celebrated annually on the third Tuesday in September to show appreciation for those who have dedicated their lives to keeping systems safe and efficient— Jennifer Le and Daniel Akwei are among them. 

As information security analysts in the district, they are making a huge impact on cybersecurity, said Michael Anderson, deputy chief of Educational Technology. 

“Each day, they perform a series of checks and reviews that help the security team at large to understand if there were or are any cybersecurity or privacy matters that should be investigated further,” Anderson said. “If need be, this team will spring into action to lead the investigative work as well as the incident management. They are the youngest and most talented cybersecurity analysts I’ve ever worked with since I entered management in 2002.”

Le and Akwei are both relatively new to the district, with about one and two years of district experience respectively, but they said they are driven by a “strong sense of togetherness” within Dallas ISD as well as a passion for keeping students safe.

As the district’s Cybersecurity Threat and Vulnerability Management team, they are constantly analyzing data logs and district devices for any abnormalities that could indicate a security risk. It can be difficult at times, but Akwei said the Educational Technology team helps keep him motivated. 

“Working with my colleagues is the most amazing thing ever,” Akwei said. “Everyone is willing to help and share their knowledge, and we always have team dinners. I really enjoy that. So overall, the whole Educational Technology department in my experience is the best.”

Being focused, fast, flexible, and friendly are all key components of providing cybersecurity support to the district. While Le and Akwei make up a small team, they interact with a variety of customers from principals to concerned parents, so they keep the Core 4 at the center of everything they do. 

“Focusing on what they’re requesting is very important because sometimes it can be broad,” Le said. “We have to come in with a sense of urgency, making sure everybody feels like time is being dedicated to them, and we have to be flexible because you never know what is going to happen at any moment of the day. And, of course, we need to be friendly, especially when something is urgent. That balance is very important when trying to resolve an incident or some kind of case that’s been brought to us.” 

One of their most common tasks is helping safeguard district employees from phishing attacks, both by educating their peers on best safety practices and by guiding people through securing their devices after phishing incidents. 

“I feel like I’m giving back,” Le said. “We have a part in ensuring that our students are safe, not just on the internet, but mental health-wise as well. I think that’s very important, especially with how many students we oversee every single academic year.”

This year, professional development for teachers, nurses, speech therapists, and media specialists will be differentiated by years of experience. Teaching & Learning will host in-person after school professional development for new teachers, those with zero to one years of teaching experience, from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14.

The training will take place at the following locations:

2023-2024 New Teachers with two or More Years of Experience

Teachers who are new to the district with two or more years of classroom service are required to complete two asynchronous modules during the 4:30- 8 p.m. window on Sept. 14. These trainings should be completed remotely, and teachers with this level of experience do NOT need to report to a training site. 

The overall focus of the event is to provide participants with the opportunity to collaborate with  peers while learning about curriculum resources and multiple response strategies to strengthen student engagement during instruction.  

For more information, please visit the Professional & Digital Learning webpage at dallasisd.org/pdl or contact Stephanie Ford at sford@dallasisd.org or Kymberli Hamilton at kyhamilton@dallasisd.org.

A total solar eclipse will be visible in Dallas on April 8, 2024, and Mark Broughton, director of the Environmental Education Center, is already preparing to help middle school students take advantage of the rare opportunity thanks to a Junior League of Dallas Grant for Innovative Teaching.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everybody, including the students,” Broughton said. “But you have to wear solar viewing glasses of some sort to look at the sun that day.”

Broughton applied for the Grants for Innovative Teaching—which are designed to help improve education in Dallas ISD with support for unique programs outside school budgets—to supply students with those special glasses. 

Thanks to the grant, Broughton will be able to provide 2,000 pairs of glasses during the solar phenomenon, and he said he hopes to apply for additional grants to increase that number and give the memorable experience to as many middle school students as possible. 

“It’s an incredible opportunity because a solar eclipse will not happen in Dallas in their lifetime again,” Broughton said. “If they were to see another one, they would possibly have to travel to another country to view it, so this will be it for some of the students. I wanted to do what I could to give them what they need to safely view that eclipse.”

Broughton is working to provide more transformational experiences to Dallas ISD students. As director of the Environmental Education Center, he said he and his team hope to see at least 20,000 students from prekindergarten through 12th grade visit the center on field trips. 

Dallas ISD’s Environmental Education Center is a 500-acre academic facility located in Seagoville that includes more than 4 miles of nature trails, interactive exhibits, a 70-seat ecology theater, four science laboratories, a live animals laboratory, a fossil pavilion, a working barn, and more. 

All district teachers are invited to take advantage of the many resources available through Broughton’s team, including the Science Resource Center, which sends equipment and materials to teachers to use, and the Living Materials Center, which sends teachers live plants and animals to enrich classroom learning.

To learn more about what is available through the Environmental Education Center and to find solar eclipse resources, visit https://www.dallasisd.org/Domain/96. 

For Adriana Popa, a seventh- and eighth-grade science and physics teacher at Sudie L. Williams Talented And Gifted Academy, service has always been a key motivator that has led to being recognized with a 2023 Service Above Self Teacher Award from The Rotary Club of Dallas.

These awards are given to teachers who have demonstrated excellence in their profession by going the extra mile. While Popa said she feels “special and celebrated” to have earned the honor, she is not motivated by recognition.  

Popa has a long history of going above and beyond, including becoming a medical doctor in her home country of Romania, a volunteer physician in Italy, and an educator through Dallas ISD’s Alternative Certification Program. She also served as an AmeriCorps volunteer in a Dallas ISD classroom, and has supported gardening clubs, soccer teams, STEM academies, and more. 

“I really think it’s an amazing opportunity that has happened to me. I never considered becoming a teacher growing up, and I found my calling,” Popa said. “When I started teaching eight years ago, I wanted to be that teacher that I felt like I never had during my K-12 and use hands-on skills to teach science because when the students see, touch, and do, they never forget.”

Many of Popa’s favorite memories in the classroom come from the engaging activities she has created. For example, she said she did not know what a s’more was until she moved to the United States, and she decided to share the fun with her students by using tea candles to make s’mores and explore the evidence of chemical reactions. 

“I will never forget how I had kids actually walking out of my classroom thanking me and saying, ‘You gave me the experience of my life. I’ve never had something like this,’” Popa said. “To actually learn and feel trusted to do an experiment, something they can learn from and eat, they obviously enjoyed it. These moments make me go home and want to do even more.”

Popa, who has been recognized as exemplary by the Texas Education Agency, said her inspiration to create memorable moments in the classroom and put her students first comes from her desire to give back. 

“When I was a kid dreaming of becoming a physician, all I wanted was to help people,” Popa said. “To me, serving means trying my best to care for as many people as possible, from handing out food to the homeless to baking and cooking meals for a student who is sick. I feed off the energy I get when I feel like someone I helped is doing well and has a big smile.”

When stakeholders such as parents, students, team members and community members call Dallas ISD in search of vital information or help, they will likely first come in contact with one of the members of the district’s Call Center. 

Lester Singleton, manager for the Call Center, says their primary objective is not to transfer the call but to make sure they are resolving issues on the first call. Their secondary responsibility is to get them to the right person the first time, every time.

According to market analysis research that Singleton has studied, nationally, the average hold time for call centers is three-minutes. For his team, the average hold time is 30-seconds.

“We listen first, then we talk, then we educate, and then we find the solution,” Singleton said. The Call Center has been in existence for 17 years, one of the things Singleton has learned in the years he has managed it is that listening is key, because many of the stakeholders who call want to feel like they’ve been heard. 

The six team members (five full-time and one part-time) manage thousands of calls that come into the district.

During the first week of the school year, the Call Center received almost 6,000 calls, and in the month of August alone, they received over 14,000 calls. 

As the Call Center keeps up with the demand, they put Core 4 at the forefront. Singleton says that his team practices the district’s culture tenets in this order: Friendly, Fast, Flexible, and then Focused.

“The reason why Friendly is the first tenet to us, is because within the first 10 seconds of a customer calling, they can tell if one of the agents is the person they want to speak to,” said Singleton. “If you’re friendly, you set a very positive disposition within the first 10 seconds. And since you are friendly, the customer will be more receptive to what you want to convey to them.”

Since the tone of being friendly is established the moment a Call Center team member answers a call, Singleton says the primary greeting is “Thank you for calling Dallas ISD, with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

Singleton also conveys the message to his team to never treat a stakeholder the way they want to be treated– in fact, they should treat them better. He says that he wants every customer that calls the district to feel like they’re important when they receive the undivided attention of his team.

To anticipate the types of calls the Call Center will receive at different times of the year, Singleton is consistently in contact with departments such as Human Capital Management, Benefits, Payroll, and others. 

For example, Singleton says that in November, December, March and April, they know that they are going to receive inquiries from parents about magnet schools. To prepare, Singleton reaches out to the magnet programs for information his team can share when they answer those calls. 

Not only do the Call Center team members work together to achieve equitable outcomes, Singleton describes his department as a community who supports each other and celebrates each other’s achievements. With a winning team, Singleton says they will continue to work together to bring the best customer service to all stakeholders from the district. 

Principal Monica Marquez has spent the majority of her career at Louise W. Kahn Elementary School, as a teacher when it opened and then working to become an academic coordinator, assistant principal, and now principal of her home campus. 

It was during her time as a third-grade teacher that she first met student Selene Ramos—who is now assistant principal at Kahn Elementary. 

“Selene was very talkative and always came dressed to the nines,” Marquez said. “She was a good student who was always a go-getter wanting to help others, and that really has not changed in the 20 years we’ve known each other.”

Ramos recalled similar memories with a smile: “Sometimes I would get in trouble because I would want to help the other students too much. It’s always been in me to help others. I grew up in this neighborhood in Oak Cliff. As an immigrant child, I always wanted to give back to the community and to Dallas ISD, which built me.”

The two of them kept in touch over the years as Ramos was growing up. Her siblings attended Kahn as well, so Ramos would visit to catch up with Marquez, who Ramos said was “always happy to hear about my journey.” 

As an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas, Ramos was placed at Kahn to complete her teaching internship at her request, and then she transitioned into being a teacher on the campus. 

“I’ve been here for nine years,” Ramos said. “This is all I know. This is my home.”

Marquez said it has been a joy to support Ramos first as a student and then as a teacher and now as her assistant principal. 

“I’m always proud when I see my students come back,” Marquez said. “That’s what you want to do is make a difference in somebody’s life through education. My proudest moment with Selene was when she told me, ‘I’m going to get my master’s to become an administrator.’ It was really exciting for me to help her grow. And then when I had the opportunity to hire her as an administrator, I knew that was where she needed to be—here by my side to help.”

Calling Kahn home is something Ramos treasures, and she attributes much of that to Marquez.  

“She has made such an impact in my educational journey,” Ramos said. “She is that teacher who always sees your potential and continues to push you forward. She has seen me. She’s seen my potential since I was a third-grade student, a college intern, and a teacher, and it just continues. It’s been a true blessing.”

As the district moves to the beat of opportunity in classrooms throughout the district, one department is creating opportunities for students to grow, explore their interests and develop life skills outside the classroom.

By providing students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities, Student Activities is improving the overall educational experience of Dallas ISD students.

Director of Student Activities Leonidas Patterson believes the department’s theme for this year—Stay the course—communicates its singular focus on the district’s priority of making sure that all students have the opportunity to get involved in at least one extracurricular or co-curricular activity each year. 

“I know from my journey that extracurricular activities matter and help young people grow and develop while they are looking for their niche in life,” he said. “Participating in yearbook and theater allowed me to be curious, creative, and brave.”

The newest coordinator to Student Activities, Omar Ovalle, said that it is exciting to work in a school district that makes participation in extracurricular activities a priority.

“Being a part of Student Activities gives me the opportunity to be a resource to students in their journey as they excel in an environment outside of the classroom,” Ovalle said.

Last year 23,779 students participated in the 12 extracurricular programs sponsored by Student Activities at no cost to schools. The department offers a variety of extracurriculars for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, including UIL Academics, esports, cheer, and debate.

Christina Martinez, program manager, said that the extracurricular activities help students foster their creativity and improve their academic performance while highlighting their knowledge and talents.

“Providing students a space where they can shine is what makes this job worthwhile,” she said. “The workshops, tournaments, and academic competitions afford students that space where they can be competitive, have fun, and meet new friends.”

For a complete list of the extracurricular activities sponsored by Student Activities, visit www.dallasisd.org/studentactivities.