The process to select the 2020 Teacher of the Year has begun at the campuses. The selection process provides opportunity campuses the opportunity to showcase their most effective teachers. The guidelines below ensure consistency across the district in how the nominees are identified at the campus level. The campus winner will represent his or her school in the district-level competition.
Teacher of the Year Characteristics:
Maximizes growth opportunities for students of all backgrounds
Collaborates with colleagues, students, and families to create a culture of respect and success.
Deliberately connects their classroom to the community and the community to the classroom.
Engages in leadership opportunities that contribute to the work of the profession.
Without exception, represents the district’s vision and goals.
Expresses themselves in a poised and articulate way.
Eligibility Criteria:
Teachers who earn an Evaluation Rating of Proficient I or above.
Teachers who have not served as a campus winner in the last three years.
Teachers who have at least 3 years of creditable teaching service.
Campus Selection Teacher of the Year Selection Process:
After teachers meeting the criteria are nominated, campuses conduct a closed vote to select a campus winner.
Submit the campus winner’s name to HCM through the link below by November 6, 2020
Note that the campus winner must be endorsed by the campus Principal. These winners will be invited, via a personal email, to apply for the district Teacher of the Year honor.
Dallas ISD District Teacher of the Year Categories and Selection Process:
The district will select a total of 9 finalists from three categories by campus type and school level. One winner (Elementary, Secondary, Choice/Magnet) will be selected from each category.
Category
Level
Elementary
PK-5
Secondary
6-12
Choice/Magnet
All Levels
Following campus selection, winners are invited to apply through online application for the districtwide award. Responses and endorsements for all submissions are reviewed and scored in Winter/Spring 2020.
Overall scores for each application are determined by weighting available components:
Application and Endorsements
70%
TEI Evaluation Rating
20%
Years of Teaching Experience
10%
Finalists are ranked by category. The top 3 in each category will attend an in-person panel interview before selection of the districtwide winner.
Social and emotional learning builds the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that both students and adults need to be successful in school, work, and life. These skills include such things as knowing and controlling your emotions, teamwork, understanding others, making positive choices, and resilience. Now, more than ever, these are crucial skills for navigating uncertainty, understanding one’s identity and beliefs, and building positive relationships.
Through the Theory of Action Standards of Service, the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Department provides training, strategic planning support, and coaching to implement key elements of comprehensive SEL such as:
Culture and Climate—Includes SEL Signature Practices to develop a campus that’s grounded in positive relationship-building practices and fosters welcoming environments for both students and adults
SEL Explicit Skills Instruction—Provides direct lessons to students of all ages for SEL skill building and ongoing reflection
Content Integration—Identifies natural overlaps between SEL skills (like team building or communication) and ongoing academic learning to reinforce the value of SEL and ongoing refinement of SEL skills
Family Engagement—Builds authentic connections with Dallas ISD families and shares relevant SEL resources with parents and caregivers to help strengthen SEL skills and mindsets at home
Systems and structures—Develops sustainable SEL implementation, including developing SEL Steering Committees and continuous improvement efforts for strengthening SEL practices on a campus
The SEL team collaborates closely with many partners to provide SEL implementation support to individual campuses, central departments, and Dallas ISD parents and caregivers. For more information, visit the SEL Department website, www.dallasisd.org/SEL, which includes a number of useful resources (for educators and families) and ongoing updates about our work (including upcoming training opportunities)!
For additional information, contact Juany Valdespino-Gaytan, executive director of Engagement Services, at jvaldespinogaytan@dallasisd.org or Aileen Mokuria, professional development manager, at amokuria@dallasisd.org.
In compliance with state and federal laws, Dallas ISD requires that all employees complete an annual policy acknowledgement and compliance training every school year. The window for both the annual policy acknowledgement and compliance training closes Oct. 31.
Annual Policy Acknowledgement
Using their EAD, employees will log into the annual policy acknowledgement web-based application at http://PolicyAcknowledgement.dallasisd.org. The system can be accessed from work or home.
Compliance Training Videos
Online compliance training will be available to all District employees in Cornerstone at https://dallasisd.csod.com. Employees will need to use their EAD username and password to log into Cornerstone. The compliance training assignment will be in the “Training in Progress” or the “Your Assigned Training” box located on the “Welcome” page. If the assignment is not listed, employees can hover over the “Learning” tab and select “View Your Transcript.” The compliance training curriculum will be listed on your transcript.
For questions or concerns regarding the annual policy acknowledgement and compliance training, please contact Policy and Compliance at HCMcompliance@dallasisd.org or (972) 794-7858.
Citing his leadership navigating the school district’s students, families, and employees through the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, Dallas Business Journal has named Superintendent of Schools Michael Hinojosa one of its Most Inspiring Leaders of 2020.
Among Hinojosa’s accomplishments lauded in the award are his collaboration with the Texas Education Agency, the governor, county and health officials to maintain instruction in the early weeks of the pandemic, developing a plan to bring employees back and open schools in a safe environment, playing a leading role as an advocate for connectivity for students, and working to establish delivery of more than 10 million meals to students while schools were closed.
The inspiring leaders award honors businesses, organizations and individuals who demonstrated exemplary leadership during the economic and related struggles that followed the onset of the pandemic.
The 20 award winners will be formally recognized in a virtual awards program on Nov. 19.
Published monthly, Dallas Business Journal is a prominent source for local business news, research, and events in the DFW area.
To hear Dallas ISD Partnership and Volunteer Coordinator Thomas Garner tell it, whether they know it or not, fathers have a superpower to make a positive difference in the education and social development of their children and others. So strong is his belief in the idea, Garner is on a mission to recruit as many fathers and father figures as he can to support schools and students as volunteers in the Dallas ISD version of the All Pro Dad program. All Pro Dad is a national male involvement program with 1,000 chapters across 42 states inspiring men to embrace their roles as dads and husbands. All Pro Dad shares guidance, support and practical tips on parenting and family life through training, events and email messages.
Garner is using it as a tool to involve more men in Dallas ISD. He especially wants to recruit Black men. “Of course, this is not a program for just African American men,” he says, “but when you peel back the numbers, realize the number of homes in our community that lack fathers, and read the newspaper and see what’s happening with Black males, it’s important for us to serve.” And what’s in it for the men? Plenty, says Garner. “They get an opportunity to become a better husband, a better man, a better leader in the communities we serve. That’s the most gratifying thing I’ve learned from conversations with other dads in our programs.” To view one father’s testimonial, go here.
Counselor Calvin Grigsby, who works with elementary students at the district’s Barbara Manns alternative school, agrees that male role models can have a positive impact on students. “An involved dad or father figure gives kids a role model, someone they can look up to, someone who is already established,” said Grigsby. “A man who has achieved some goals the student may have in mind for himself can possibly guide the student onto a path to success down the road.” And, he says involved and committed male role models can be as much of a positive influence on girls as boys in terms of helping them set life goals and stay on track to achieve them.
Garner and male representatives of 36 district campuses are preparing for the kickoff of this year’s All Pro Dad program, which will take the form of a Dads Draft. It’s set for 2 p.m., Sat., Oct. 24. Garner says he’s hyped about the event, which, he hopes—even though it’s virtual because of COVID—will display the same excitement as an NFL draft.
“If you visualize or have ever seen an NFL draft with the props onstage, the helmets, the green room for the young men being drafted in the first round, it’s the same hype,” he says. “It’s an opportunity to acknowledge those campuses who want to take the program beyond the draft into their campuses to give men the opportunity to be leaders as fathers and father figures. We can’t get out there and do it in a big way this year because of COVID, but we’re encouraging people to join us in the virtual space for now.”
Garner advises that any campus can create a chapter. There’s a $50 annual fee that covers the cost of training for the campus coach, a link to the All Pro Dad website, daily email affirmations and a supportive network of men on other campuses.
With a grant from the Dallas Education Foundation, a new Dallas ISD initiative called “I Matter, We Matter, Words Matter” will prepare teachers to use culturally authentic texts written by African American authors to help students see themselves mirrored in the books they read. The program aims to increase Black student achievement in reading and expose students to read-aloud instruction.
The professional development is a part of the Teaching and Learning Division’s support for the Racial Equity efforts underway in Dallas ISD, including the district’s training on cultural intelligence and unconscious bias, said Charissa Govan, executive director for Professional and Digital Learning and the program’s leader.
Pre-K through 10th-grade language arts teachers who sign up for the training will be equipped with strategies to teach through books that feature Black characters portraying the Black experience, in alignment with the district’s commitment to Black students.
“We want to make sure that our division is supporting the commitment to Black lives,” Govan said. “We recognize that our African American students are performing at a rate that is not at the same level of their peers in other ethnicities, and so we want to make sure that we are working to close that gap in reading achievement. With this project, we are focusing on the strategies that teachers can implement in the classroom using read-aloud sessions to help address comprehension and vocabulary.”
Virtual training sessions on Oct. 28, Dec. 2 and Jan. 20 will highlight strategies that teachers can use to build vocabulary and comprehension through culturally relevant texts written by African American authors. The training will provide a space for teachers to learn about cultural intelligence and managing unconscious bias—and how to implement those practices when planning lessons and interacting with students. Teachers will be able to build their classroom libraries with the books provided for the program, including works by contemporary writers Nic Stone, Jerry Craft, Derrick Barnes and Michael S. Brandy, among others.
“We’re using the texts to develop culturally responsive teaching practices and equipping teachers with the tools to have those critical conversations around race and social justice issues that are happening right now,” said Arlena Gaynor, executive director for Language and Literature, which is supporting the project. “It’s not just about Black kids and Black authors but about making sure that our classroom environment will be inclusive of all so that teachers and students can show up authentically and have critical conversations, and we’re using the texts as a vehicle for that.”
“It’s not just students seeing themselves in the texts,” Gaynor said, “but seeing themselves and their experiences represented accurately.”
Gaynor said the team is hoping to culminate this project with the African American Read-in, where some of the authors whose books are selected will be brought in to speak, creating an experience for teachers and students to engage in.
The initiative is a cross-divisional project that also includes the Racial Equity Office, School Leadership, IT and other departments working together to make it happen.
The Aspiring Leaders Program is looking for teachers and instructional coaches who have strong leadership potential for an opportunity with a unique program offered throughSouthern Methodist University.
This long-standing, valuable partnership between Dallas ISD and the Aspiring Leaders Program is designed for teachers or instructional coaches who are interested in earning a Master’s in Urban Educational Leadership and are seeking a campus administrator or other leadership role in Dallas ISD.
The LEAD department and SMU will be hosting a virtual information session about this program at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Those who are interested in attending can register at https://tiny.cc/infosessionrsvp.
The program:
Is rigorous and competency based. The two-year program includes a second-year residency, including coaching support and culminates in a master’s in urban educational leadership from SMU.
Is for ascending Leaders. In Dallas ISD, more than 100 ALP alumni and participants serve in leadership roles, including 25 current principals and 52 assistant principals.
Offers tuition reimbursement. The district will potentially provide partial tuition reimbursement for participants in this program.
The Aspiring Leaders Program is designed for individuals who do not currently have their master’s degree. However, if their degree is in something other than educational leadership and they are seeking an additional one, they are still eligible to apply. This cohort of participants may potentially be eligible to hire as assistant principals as early as Spring 2022.
The CDC recommends people get their flu shot before the end of October, so don’t forget to get yours at one of the several clinics set up through a partnership between Dallas ISD and CVS Pharmacy to provide convenient drive-thru and walk-up flu clinics for employees at a variety of times and locations.
Seasonal flu mimics many of the same symptoms of COVID-19, which can make it difficult for patients and providers to tell the difference between the two illnesses. Getting a flu shot is an important step we can all take to protect ourselves and our families.
To find the date, time and location most convenient to you, click here. We recommend that staff complete the electronic flu shot form available here before going to get a flu shot. Forms will also be available at the clinic sites.
Staff can also go to any CVS location to get the flu shot, which is free with any TRS-Active Care insurance and Medicare. For questions, email benefits@dallasisd.org.
In addition to the scheduled clinics around the district, CVS is administering flu vaccines at four Dallas drive-thru clinics from 9 a.m. to noon on Oct. 22 as part of a city-sponsored event. While this event is targeted for ages 55 and older, anyone with insurance that covers the cost of flu vaccinations may attend. There will be no cash exchange or payment for vaccine/administration at the event.
Dallas ISD kicks off a new one-stop online application for more than 100 choice schools in the district with a virtual event. Discover all Dallas ISD has to offer at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Thanks to the new school finder tool and application, it’s now easier for parents to find the best-fit school for their children. And they can learn more about the variety of choice programs available by attending the annual event, which this year will be held virtually. Register for this exciting opportunity to learn more about magnet schools, personalized learning, transformation schools, PTECH programs and much more at www.dallasisd.org/choosedallasisd. The application period for the 2021-2022 school year ends Jan. 31, 2021. Choose Dallas ISD!
Dallas ISD is going pink during October to celebrate and recognize survivors of breast cancer and increase awareness about advances in treatments for the disease. As part of the observances for the month, Dallas ISD staff shared inspirational stories of courage, faith and strength.
My name is Cipriana Portillo. I am a breast cancer survivor, and I have been cancer-free for 15 years. My daughter was 1 year old when I was diagnosed with cancer. Adriana is now 16 years old. I thank God for sending my baby, because I feel that she gave me strength to survive.
Cipriana Portillo Teacher Assistant Louise Wolff Kahn Elementary School
Power to Fight
On May 29, 2015, Michelle Zada Hall was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and began an aggressive chemotherapy regimen in addition to having a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction, followed by radiation at the start of the New Year. Over the past five years she has had four additional reconstructive surgeries and feels extremely blessed to have an amazing team of talented and compassionate doctors and surgeons and her incredible faith. She loves and is grateful for the incredible faith and an army of wonderfully supportive friends, family, students, parents and co-workers who help encourage positivity and administer prayer. A talented dancer and dance instructor, she has never missed a beat during her treatment, because she was determined not to allow cancer to define her.
Michelle Zada Hall Assistant Dance Conservatory Director and Director of the World Dance Ensemble Booker T. Washington High School for the performing and Visual Arts
I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer 13 years ago, and now I can say that I am a breast cancer survivor. I thank God every day for his mercy. I pray every day to God for those people who are suffering from this or another disease to give them strength and faith to move forward. For me, faith in God and the support of my entire family and the doctors that God put in my way were the reasons I victorious and blessed for this difficult process.
Adela Sanchez Cafeteria Supervisor Raúl Quintanilla Sr. Middle School
Feb. 20, 1997, is a day I shall never forget because that was the day a message was left on my answering machine regarding my surgery, which was scheduled for February 24, 1997. I asked myself, “What surgery is she talking about?” I thought she had dialed the wrong number. After calling the number that was left, I learned that my mammogram showed that I had breast cancer.
I was devastated. There was no history of breast cancer in my family. I had no symptoms. I could not feel a lump in my breast. It was diagnosed by way of my mammogram. After my surgery, I had to go back four days later to find out if any of my lymph nodes had been involved. Had the cancer spread? Waiting for those results, my family members joined in prayer in the doctor’s office. The test came back negative.
I went through chemotherapy and radiation treatment for eight months. I would drive myself to those treatments and go to work afterwards. I felt ashamed and believed that I had, in some way, caused this diagnosis. I did not want anyone to know what I was going through. I secretly prayed and asked God to please, don’t take my hair out. I did not want to go bald because everyone would know what I was going through. I did not want sympathy, either. Throughout my treatments, I did not get sick and I never felt weak. As a matter of fact, labs showed that my blood numbers were always “normal.” God answered my prayers.
As I went through this, I wanted to help others. I gave a testimony at my church. I have been speaking to other women who may be going through the same thing. I have made it my business to encourage anyone who is frightened by this diagnosis. I tell them of my struggles and my triumphs. I let them know that having breast cancer is not always a death sentence. It has been 23 years and eight months since that diagnosis. Each subsequent mammogram causes me to have some anxiety, but I have learned to place my complete faith in God.
For anyone reading this, if you have gotten this diagnosis, cry if you must. Get angry, if you must. But one thing that you MUST not do, is give up. Don’t give in. If you are in need of encouragement, support, prayers, or resources, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Patricia A. Washington Social Worker, Special Education
Audra Scott
Audra Scott, opera and gospel performer and teacher, was diagnosis with HER2+, stage 2 breast cancer when she was 38 after she noticed bloody discharge from her areola. She had a double mastectomy, reconstruction surgery and 12 rounds of chemo. She decided to have the double mastectomy because she has the brca2 gene that put her at high risk for cancer reoccurring, which she had seen happen to family members who did not survive. For her, it was a simple decision, “I didn’t even give them a chance to finish the question. I said, ‘Take them both, I don’t need them!’”
She did not let the diagnoses affect her passion for music, teaching, and family. Instead, she leaned heavily on her faith in God and the support of her family, friends, and students to carry her through as a survivor.
Audra Scott, Director of Opera & Gospel, Musical Theater Vocal Coach Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Laticia Miles, middle
My mother, Laticia Miles, is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed in July of 2018. It was the most devastating news
my family ever received. At that time, she was living in Bakersfield, Calif., and my sister and I decided that it was best that she move to Dallas so that we could take care of her as well as get her setup with the best possible treatments. In November of 2018, she made the permanent move to Keller where she now resides with my sister. My mother underwent surgery in July of 2019 and had to have her left breast removed. Surgery was a success, and, as of today, she is a walking, breathing, testimony that God is indeed a miracle worker. Through all the tears, pain, sudden loss of hair and frequent doctor visits, she has overcome one of the biggest challenges of her life. My mom is my hero, and I am extremely proud of her. She never gave up hope and continued to fight. She is now living a cancer free life and couldn’t be happier.
Brandee Dean Teacher Assistant, Specialized Unit Thomas C. Marsh Middle School
I am a 13- year breast cancer survivor, free from cancer since my chemo treatment. In the summer of 2007, after I told my deaf friend that I felt a lump in my chest, she suggested that I see my family doctor again because she had a friend who passed away from breast cancer. The lump never caused me any pain, but it developed quickly right after my yearly check-up with my doctor. I was diagnosed with almost stage 3 breast cancer in August 2007.
Linda Fenske Teacher Assistant Deaf Education Mockingbird Elementary School
I was hired by Dallas ISD in January 2020, and 20 days later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 27. My tumor was 6cm long and stage 3. I started 16 rounds of chemotherapy in March. Soon after finishing chemotherapy, on July 28, I had a bilateral mastectomy. I am now doing radiation and am on the 15th of 33 sessions. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for me and my husband, but we have remained positive and very proactive throughout the treatments. In the middle of a pandemic and a cancer diagnosis, my husband and I have found so much joy in the little things and love feeling all the support and prayers from everyone around us. My hope for everyone is to be proactive about their health and take very seriously their annual checkups. I am that woman who works out every day, eats healthy and has no family history of cancer in her family, and still I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Know your body, and truly, feel it on the first.
Citing his leadership navigating the school district’s students, families, and employees through the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, Dallas Business Journal has named Superintendent of Schools Michael Hinojosa one of its Most Inspiring Leaders of 2020.
