Central Staff News

April Castillo, a fifth grade ELAR teacher at William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted, celebrated her students’ State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) results by letting some of them pie her in the face. She had promised all 88 of her students that they could, but only if they received a score of 100 on the test.

“I thought they would forget about it,” Castillo said. “I told them, ‘I’m not going to stress you out about it. You just have to do it on your own.’ But they came back once those scores were released, and I got pied in the face by 22 students who made 100—and I had to wear a Cowboys jersey because I’m a Tom Brady fan.”

But that was not all. Every single one of her students reached mastery on the STAAR test, up from her previous year’s accomplishment of 98 percent mastery. This is only Castillo’s fourth year teaching, and she has already earned the distinction of Campus Teacher of the Year. 

“April goes above and beyond,” Principal Tom Brandt said. “She also earned the highest Student Perception Survey results out of all our elementary school teachers and presented her strategies to our staff to start the school year. She recently sent two students down to the principal’s office with positive referrals. She is a rock star teacher.” 

Castillo was inspired to become an educator by her parents. Her mom worked as a teacher assistant in Dallas ISD for 25 years before retiring, while her dad is a custodial lead in the district who is planning to retire this year. They instilled a passion for education in Castillo that carried her through her own schooling at Dallas ISD and the Tech Teacher Program at Texas Tech before leading her back to the classroom. 

Her approach to teaching is all about building trust with her students and empowering them to guide their learning. She has done this by incorporating data practices, one-on-one conferences, student-led activities, independent pathways and more, always striving to be a facilitator and a cheerleader. 

“I had kids coming in who were approaching and were barely not meeting,” Castillo said. “Seeing them go from, ‘I’m not good at reading, I get zeros,’ to, ‘I got a 100,’ on everything was my absolute favorite part of last year.”

One of her units includes novel studies, which she always demonstrates the first time before sending her students off to choose a book of their own the second time. She encourages them to select books of any genre, even if they have read them before, as long as they have a plot. 

“Once they start realizing they have the freedom to choose things according to their interests, they start to like reading because it’s not something that’s forced upon them,” Castillo said. “They love going to the library now. They absolutely love it.” 

Moving forward, Castillo hopes to get her master’s degree through the LEAD program and help shape the culture and climate of a campus for future students. In the meantime, she is working hard to continue developing her skills and is encouraging new teachers to “ask questions and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.”

“I love Dallas ISD,” she said. “Growing up in Oak Cliff and having teachers who took the time to get to know me and build relationships with me put me where I am today. While my story and my success are part of me, my teachers led me here. I have always known that the district gave me so much, so I want to stay and give back.” 

School districts across the state were seeing nursing staff shortages before the pandemic even began, and those vacancy rates increased when COVID-19 hit and created additional strain. Dallas ISD has invested $260,000 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds each school year to hire and retain nurse assistants to get students the medical support they need. 

The initial goal of this ESSER project was to hire and retain 10 additional nurse assistants, specifically on campuses following the Intersession or School Day Redesign extended year calendars. Health Services has filled all 10 of those positions, adding to the 40 nurse assistants that were already in place during the 2021-2022 school year. 

Nurse assistants around the district provide crucial care for students of all ages and grade levels. Their routine vision and hearing screenings identify issues early, which helps keep students on track. They also put communicable disease control measures in place—like monitoring immunization statuses—to keep their communities safe, and they support RNs when they are paired together. 

“We’re hoping to see increases in immunization compliance at the schools where the nurse assistants have worked, and just an overall increase in the services provided to students,” said Jennifer Finley, executive director of Health Services. “And then an improvement in our vision and hearing screening rates, because these students would not have been served as well as they have been without these employees.”

According to Finley, the ESSER-supported nurse assistants are not necessarily paired with a nurse on campus, so the Health Services team had to think outside the box to give these full-time employees the resources they needed to thrive. Not only did they deliver additional training, but they also gave each nurse assistant a mentor from central staff to guide them through their work, as all nurse assistants work independently under the direction and support of a nurse. Initial feedback from school principals has been positive, leading Finley to believe the program has been successful.

ESSER funding will continue for this initiative for the next few years with an objective to further increase hiring and retention rates. In the meantime, Health Services will continue to monitor the impacts these nurse assistants are having. 

The pandemic has created additional stress for everyone, so Finley is encouraging students, families and staff to practice self-care and seek help as needed. 

“We are so fortunate that the district has a wealth of resources, not only physical health resources but also our mental health resources to support overall wellness,” she said. “Please keep that in mind, and reach out if you find yourself in a situation where you’re feeling stressed or concerned.” 

To learn more about Dallas ISD’s federally-funded efforts to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, visit https://www.dallasisd.org/esser. 

The LEAD department is excited about the return of Bridge2LEAD, a professional development series designed specifically for individuals who have their masters’ degree and principal certification and have not served as campus administrators. The LEAD team developed this program for individuals who have a strong desire and commitment to grow themselves as leaders. 

The Bridge2LEAD 2022-2023 cohort of 55 participants will benefit from a custom curriculum and authentic learning experiences led by current Dallas ISD principals, equipping them with research-based instructional leadership skills in the following topics: 

• Observation and feedback
• Living the learning framework (see it, name it, do it)
• Defending your time: Prioritizing instructional leadership
• Leading school culture
• Leading change
• Resume/interview clinic

For more information about Bridge2LEAD reach out to the LEAD department at LEAD@dallasisd.org or connect with them on Twitter at @LEAD_DallasISD. 

Schools across Dallas ISD are honoring teaching excellence by introducing their extraordinary campus teachers of the year. 

These teachers represent a wide variety of diversity and years of experience in the district, and campuses are coming together to celebrate their passion and dedication to accelerating student success and achievement.

These teachers have 11.6793 years of experience on average and a collective total of 2,768 years of experience. Additionally, eight of the teachers have over 30 years of experience, while two of them have over 40 years.

Each honoree will have the opportunity to apply to be considered for the district teacher of the year award. Based on the teachers’ applications, Dallas ISD’s selection committee will name nine finalists from three categories by campus type and school level. 

One winner will be selected to represent the elementary, secondary and choice/magnet campuses, and the finalists and winners will be honored at a special event next spring.

See the campus teachers of the year by downloading the list: https://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001475/Centricity/Domain/17649/Campus teachers of the year 22-23.pdf.

As the end of the year approaches, so does the issuance of W-2s. Dallas ISD recommends that employees set up their W-2 form to be retrieved online.

This is faster and more secure than receiving a paper form, especially considering recent delays in mail delivery service. The guidelines to update your delivery for the form can be found on the Payroll Services website under Resources.

If you are already set up for online delivery, there is no need to do anything. You will be notified via email as soon as the forms are ready for access.

If you need help in updating your Oracle preferences, please send an email to notifypayroll@dallasisd.org and make sure you include the request in the subject box. Also include your contact information so you can receive the assistance you need.

As a free resource to the community, volunteer attorneys will answer legal questions at no cost from 4 and 8 p.m. on Wednesdays in December, via a LegalLine E-Clinic, sponsored by the Dallas Bar Association.

To participate, you must complete the online form found here for the upcoming LegalLine. This month’s LegalLine E-Clinics are Dec. 7 and Dec. 14, between 4 and 8 p.m. The way it works is a volunteer attorney will call the participant to provide up to 15 minutes of free legal advice.  Space is limited and registration will close at 12 p.m. on the Tuesday prior. Due to the holidays, there will be no LegalLine services on Dec. 21 or 28.

It is important to know that the volunteer attorney will remain anonymous. Participants should watch for a call from an unknown number that should be labeled “No Caller ID” or something similar. No attorney-client relationship will be established. It is not a guarantee that the attorney will speak any language other than English. Individuals seeking consultation may also receive referrals to local, legal, or social service agencies. 

For legal assistance at any time, contact the DBA’s Lawyer Referral Service at www.dallasbar.org/index.cfm?pg=LawyerReferralService.

Service has always been one of math teacher Jill Emery’s core beliefs, one that she works hard to instill in her students at George B. Dealey Montessori Academy. So when she earned a 2022 “Service Above Self” Dallas Rotary Club Award, she said it was the “most meaningful award” she has ever received. 

“As a person, I’ve always felt like it is important to help others,” she said. “Just knowing that this award is not just honoring what I have done, but is honoring who I am—that is really important to me. In everything that I do, I am always striving to give more and to help others be better and do good.” 

For Emery, service has looked like stepping up amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in several ways. She joined a team of teachers to develop a free video series of math lessons for public radio station KERA and Dallas ISD that were aired over the summer in 2021 and 2022 to bridge the learning gap for students.

Those videos evolved into a library that she now uses in her flipped classroom, in which her students can learn at their own pace by accessing the majority of her lessons from home. The system empowers her advanced students to participate in bonus lessons and feel challenged, while anyone who is struggling can revisit the information and get the support they need. 

“In my classroom, everything is about mastery; it’s not just about checking boxes,” Emery said. “I was just working with a student on a topic that he had struggled with all of last year, and by the end, he was saying, ‘Wow, is it really this easy?’ He came in feeling defeated and left with a big smile on his face. I had never seen him so excited to be in a math class, as math was always his scary class.” 

Emery also took on additional responsibilities to help Dealey’s leadership team during a period of turnover, assisting with testing coordination, family communication, student discipline, master scheduling, teacher collaboration and academic support. 

One of the programs she developed was designed to foster the “love of giving and serving” in students in higher grade levels by having them help students in lower grade levels, and the students have benefited from giving each other that encouragement. 

“I am always looking for opportunities for my students to give beyond themselves,” Emery said. “I feel like this particular award helped me demonstrate to them that service really is important, and that people don’t do service to be recognized, but people do recognize leaders who serve.” 

Emery is currently working through a one-year master’s program in educational leadership at SMU with a goal of becoming a better leader. She said she hopes her students will continue to see her passion and dedication for helping others and develop that same core foundation of service in their own lives. 

Stress can leave us feeling tense and irritable and interfere with our work and personal lives, which is why finding ways to relax is so important. Not only does relaxation help us calm down and recover from difficult days, but it also lowers blood pressure, increases our ability to concentrate, improves sleep, decreases muscle tension and more. 

The good news is that we can learn how to intentionally practice relaxation through deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness, exercise and progressive muscle relaxation.

Deep breathing can ease anxiety and soothe tension. Practice directing your breath by inhaling slowly through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. You can learn specific practices like abdominal breathing, count your breaths and make your exhale a few seconds longer than your inhale. 

Meditation takes many different forms and offers people ways to find inner peace. Try focusing on sounds or images, or simply take a few minutes in a quiet place to close your eyes and breathe while imagining a place or object that comforts you. 

Mindfulness helps people slow down and remain in the present moment instead of worrying about the future or past anxieties. While you can take a class or read a book about mindfulness, you can also practice mindfulness at home or at work by enjoying each bite of a meal or slowing down and paying attention to the sights and sounds around you. 

Exercise is beneficial for many reasons, and it does not have to be intense to be effective. Something as simple as a walk around your neighborhood can relieve tension. Once you find an activity you enjoy, try to build up to 30 minutes of activity most or all days of the week. 

Progressive muscle relaxation is a great way to get your entire body to relax in just a few minutes. Find somewhere quiet and comfortable to lie down and stretch out. Then inhale as you concentrate on contracting your muscle groups for three to five seconds, and exhale as you release the tension. Work your way up from your toes to your forehead or vice versa. 

Known as the father of mindfulness, poet and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh says: “We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and recenter ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.”

If you need additional support, help is available through Dallas ISD’s Employee Assistance Program by LifeWorks. The confidential, secure platform has countless resources available online for free. From 24/7 on-call counselors to practical tips on subjects like managing grief, processing anger and maintaining work-life balance, employees can find what they need, when they need it. 

Reach out to LifeWorks at (972) 925-4000, or visit www.dallasisd.org/benefits and click on Benefits Resources to access online EAP information. 

Source: LifeWorks

Dallas ISD Arabic language interpreter and tutor Michael Woodruff wears many hats. Although his job includes tutoring and interpreting for students from Arabic speaking countries, Woodruff often goes above and beyond his duties for students. In the five years he’s worked for the district, he’s often the initial point of contact for Arabic-speaking families and students, who almost become like extended family members. 

“When things happen outside school and after the bell has rung for the day, and we all go home, I am still the first person that comes to mind for a lot of these families,” said Woodruff. 

Woodruff often finds himself bridging the communication gap between families and school staff and agencies outside of the district. 

He is always willing to take a call or show up for his students outside of his work hours, because he understands the challenges that come from not knowing the language or culture. 

Through his work as a tutor, Woodruff helps students and their families get acclimated to the district. 

“The aim is to get the students up to a proficient level in English that enables them to receive a world class education,” he said. “This is done with a few visits a week that usually last about 45 minutes per session. Kids are like sponges. They usually get here after resettling in the Dallas area and are ready and eager to absorb everything, from the new schools to the new language and culture they experience.”

One of the advantages of being a tutor is having the opportunity to work with the students individually or in small groups, which allows Woodruff  to get to know them not only on an academic basis, but as individuals. 

“As an interpreter, I help school staff understand where a student is coming from,” he said. “You get to know the family quite well. You see the struggles they face, and the uncertainty of parents who wonder if they made the right decisions for their children.” 

Through his work, Woodruff is able to witness the impact he has not only on the lives of his students, but also their families. 

“You see the parents over the course of a few meetings begin to realize that everyone  that is involved with their children’s education here in Dallas ISD wants nothing but for them to succeed and to offer the support they need to do so,” he said. 

Woodruff regularly encourages his students to join extracurricular activities, such as soccer games, music recitals or competing in the Special Olympics. But he doesn’t stop at making suggestions. No matter the activity, you can catch Woodruff cheering the students on.  

“I myself have been the person that needed that help at one time, in a new country with a new language and culture to learn,”he said. “It feels amazing being able to be that person now for children and parents.”

Rosemont Upper, the building hosting Rosemont’s older student body, has become a cornerstone of the Kessler neighborhood throughout its 100-year history. 

This kindergarten through eighth-grade neighborhood school has housed one of the most active parent committees across Dallas ISD and is known to attract area professionals into serving their community as teachers. 

Rosemont, now a dual language campus, was established in 1922. The school now consists of two buildings: the Chris V. Semos Primary Campus, which opened in 2005 and houses students in prekindergarten through third grade, and the original building, which hosts students in fourth through eighth grades. 

Rosemont’s dual language program helps children learn and be able to communicate in a second language within an enrichment model. In 2018, Rosemont was the first school to offer a foreign language in elementary school. The program offers Spanish to all general education students through 135 minutes per week of conversational Spanish connected to the curriculum.

“There’s a sense of pride and family orientation, and what makes Rosemont special,” Principal Marco Barker said. “People flock to this area because of the diversity, the community, the warmth and the unity that is exemplified in its residents. So, when you come to Rosemount, you find that sense of community that transcends color and socio-economic status. When you walk into the doors of Rosemont, you get to see the diversity of the city.”

Before her three children reached grade-school age, Kessler resident Amy Tawil knew they were going to be Rosemont Bisons. She’s been part of the school’s site-based decision-making committee for the last 23 years, served as Rosemont’s PTA President for six years, and joined the campus faculty as a kindergarten teacher 13 years ago.

“Any time the school needs the parents and the community, they’re right there to pitch in,” she said. “We have generations of families here. A lot of our parents went to school here and have their kids here, so there is just a lot of investment. We just have a lot of people, still in this neighborhood and this boundary that care about the school.”

An effort to preserve

As part of the 2015 Bond, Rosemont Upper is undergoing a renovation project that consists of updating the existing 53,400 square-foot upper building and 44,200 square feet of additions.

Preserving the original building was a priority for the Rosemont community, which fought to stop initial recommendations to tear down the building. 

The first renovation plan included tearing the building down. But before the decision was finalized, teachers and parents met with Preservation Dallas, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of local historic buildings, neighborhoods and places.

“They convinced a group of community members, parents and teachers that our building was in better shape than some of the newer buildings and that it didn’t need to be torn down,” Tawil said. “It took people from our community attending board meetings and emailing trustees, and a lot of conversations with the district and the project manager. In the end, Dallas ISD agreed to save the building.”

The project scope includes a building addition for art, choir, orchestra and dance, a 400-seat auditorium, a Black Box Theater, a gymnasium and tornado shelter, and a new main entrance. As for the existing space, there will be classroom renovations, mechanical system upgrades, an expansion of the cafeteria and dining area, and ceilings, lighting and window replacements among others. For a full list of Rosemont’s 2015 bond updates and renovations, visit https://www.dallasisd.org/Page/72291.

A pillar of the community

Tawil is not the only parent-turned-teacher in Rosemont’s recent history. Kellie Lawson, who teaches art to every fourth- and fifth-grade student at Rosemont Lower, and every middle school student at Rosemont Upper who chooses to learn visual arts, has served Rosemont for over 25 years.

“I have students whose parents were in my art club, way back when I first started,” Lawson said in an interview last year. “But, by far, the most impactful moment was when a third-grade teacher who started with us last year came to visit me in my classroom when he was interviewing. I have some pictures of him when he was acting goofy, wearing a box on his head, and having fun in my art club. His students think it’s so funny that, like them, he was a kid at Rosemont!” 

In 1997, she was working part-time out of her home and was also volunteering as PTA president at Rosemont, where her two children went to school.

The Rosemont art instructor who was teaching at the time had to move to another state, and the principal asked Lawson if she could sub. She decided to volunteer, and after falling in love with the job, she earned her teaching certificate and has been teaching at Rosemont ever since.

“I live in the neighborhood,” Lawson said. “I live five minutes away from Rosemont. It’s my community. I’ve been in North Oak Cliff since 1985, and now I’m seeing this new wave of kids of my former students. It’s great!”