Staff News

They are there when schools need them. During the 2020-2021 school year, Dallas ISD substitutes answered the call from schools to fill in for more than 100,000 teacher absences to make sure that students did not lose a day of learning.

“Substitutes are an integral part of the success of a student’s education,” said Shenise Tyler, substitutes manager for Dallas ISD in the Human Capital Management Division. “Although a substitute is only in a classroom for a short period of time, they are a teacher, and they make a difference in the lives of students.”

Without substitute teachers, absences due to illness or other unexpected circumstances could cause major complications: instruction is interrupted, classes are doubled up, and preparation periods are lost, Tyler said. Considering that the average student will spend an entire school year with a substitute teacher over the entirety of their K-12 learning journey, substitutes are important and valued members of the district.

“Without quality substitutes, teacher absences can have a domino effect that impacts the entire school,” Tyler said.

Of the more than 2,300 substitutes enrolled to cover teacher absences in Dallas ISD, about 37 percent are retired teachers. The others are qualified professionals who are interested in education and who believe it’s important that students have someone teaching in the classroom every day.

“Quality substitute teachers contribute to maintaining progress in the learning environment, which helps promote student achievement,” she said.

Substitutes who want to remain active during the 2021-2022 year should make sure they sign the Substitute Re-Enrollment form that was recently sent to their district email via DocuSign.

As the district begins to have in-person events, it’s important to avoid conflicts. While planning for the upcoming year, the Districtwide Datebook should be your chief means of scheduling districtwide activities.

The Districtwide Datebook can be found at https://www.dallasisd.org/datebook. Placing your events on the datebook will help others avoid booking events on the date of your school or department activity. Departments who already have scheduled dates for events and activities are encouraged to push them to the datebook as soon as possible.

The datebook is only for events that involve (or are of interest to) the entire school district. For example: STEM Day, Discover Dallas ISD, MLK oratory competition, recognition events and opportunities, job fairs, etc.

Department directors and administrative assistants are asked to update their department calendars (when available) and the districtwide datebook by following the steps below. If your department has a calendar on the district’s website, post your events there with the following information:

• the name of the event or activity
• a short description of the event
• the start and end time
• the venue name and address of the event location
• a department contact person and phone number or email address
• If you need help pushing an event from your department calendar to the districtwide datebook, send an email to webservices@dallasisd.org.

Departments that do not have a website-based calendar can add districtwide events to the datebook by sending an email with the information above to webservices@dallasisd.org at least a week in advance of the activity.

Diana O’Connor, librarian at Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, was recently surprised at her school with a Recognition in the Congressional Record from U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) for her work at the school, in the community and Dallas ISD.

She was recognized for her support of the schoolwide pre-Advanced Placement and Advanced Placement curriculum through a variety of programs like summer camps, STEAM camps, college readiness
camps and more for middle and high school students. She also created the Respect Starts here curriculum, a system dedicated to building listening, speaking, understanding skills and embracing one another with empathy.

O’Connor is involved in various community organizations, such as 29 Pieces, and has represented Dallas ISD in a variety of librarian associations. In 2020, she received the H. William Chris Educator Prize from the National Coalition of Girls Schools for her commitment to extraordinary teaching, program design and curricular innovation.

Before joining Rangel School, she taught hearing impaired adolescents, students with disabilities, and multiple grades in Dallas ISD.

Rep. Johnson asked that O’Connor be recognized “for her immeasurable impact on the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School and the entire Dallas community. Her career, marked by compassion and dedication to her students, has left an invaluable mark on my district, and it is my honor to congratulate her for her accomplishments.”

Skin conditions like acne, rosacea, or psoriasis may require special care before and after workouts, but don’t let skin issues interfere with your fitness plan because exercise can also promote skin health.

According to dermatologist Ellen Marmur, author of “Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman’s Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin,” by increasing blood flow, exercise helps nourish skin cells and keep them vital.

The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to working cells, including those in the skin, and carries away impurities to the liver where they are neutralized and eliminated. That’s why exercise can help skin by flushing cells and cleansing it.

Stress often has an impact on skin, and exercise is commonly seen as a way to minimize stress. While there isn’t any research that directly connects exercise to skin health, exercising does help with conditions that do have an effect on the skin.

For example, people who exercise consistently tend to sleep better, and better sleep—between seven and nine hours nightly—also see improvement in their stress level and their general health. Sleep is when the body renews itself and removes toxins. Because skin is an organ, it also goes through the detoxification process during periods of rest.

Exercising regularly increases the odds that skin will tighten, especially when losing weight. Increased muscle tone also increases blood flow to the body.

Just remember that if you exercise, you should stay hydrated and use sunscreen if you are outside. Your skin will love you for it!

For the past two months, teachers at Francisco “Pancho” Medrano Middle School have been working hard to develop a fun and rich curriculum that will help students overcome any learning loss they may have experienced during pandemic-related disruptions to learning. And when the first intersession week launches, they are confident Medrano’s Eagles will be ready to soar!

Medrano was one of the schools that had 60 percent of its students attend classes in-person and 40 percent virtual during the 2020-2021 school year, which made teaching and learning a challenging process.

And one of the challenges the school and its teachers will have to overcome is that some students might not have gained all the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in subsequent years. With the extra weeks of intersession—distributed throughout the school year for an additional 23 days—students will be able to learn concepts they may not have mastered in a way that is fun and enriching.

“We are definitely trying to make it fun in a very informal setting,” said Cassandra Kokkinos, who worked on the social studies curriculum for intersession both for the school and the district.

Principal Theresa Sigurdson expects about 390 of the school’s students will participate in one or more of the intersession weeks, depending on what areas need to be reinforced and on how they progress during the year. Progress will be measured in a variety of ways during intersession, but not with tests.

“We want this to be a level of support they need,” Sigurdson said. “We don’t want ti to be another test. We have specifically asked that they not be tested so we can fill in the gaps and support and teach.”

At Medrano, for example, all seventh-grade students are put on a pre-Advanced Placement algebra track so the majority of eighth graders will study algebra. Normally, about 90 percent of the students will pass the algebra test. The time during intersession will help students who might not have mastered the pre-algebra concepts catch up to be able to tackle algebra and the test.

Each intersession week will have a specific theme, and the themes will carry through the different subjects that will be covered.

“We want to get student buy in with assignments that are fun but also have high standards,” said Christian Cocker, a teacher who has been working on the math curriculum for the extra weeks. “It will involve getting the up and out of their seats, problem solving.”

The teachers and instructional coach have tried out some of the activities and innovative approaches this year to gauge how they will work once fully implemented. The students enjoyed the activities, so Cocker is confident they will also be successful during intersession and even beyond.

“I’m excited we have this opportunity,” said Cocker, a first-year teacher. “It brings us back to our purpose.”

Jenna Williams, the school’s instructional coach, has noticed that students will not be the only ones who will benefit from the intersession weeks.

“We have a younger staff at the school—under five years— and it has been really cool to see the teachers grow, too,” she said. Designing the weeks, developing the lessons and planning the activities has allowed teachers to think differently and to flex their teaching muscles in ways they don’t always get to.”

For more information about intersession weeks, visit www.dallasisd.org/timetolearn.

Do you know of someone interested in becoming a teacher in a district with one of the highest starting salaries for teachers in the region, with opportunities for additional compensation in high priority campuses, with great benefits and supports, and with innovative programs focused on student success? Then tell them about Dallas ISD’s first in-person job fair from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29.

During the hiring event Emmett J. Conrad High School principals will be able to interview for all campus-based openings for positions such as teachers, teacher leads, and paraprofessionals. Campus booths and interviews will be set with social distancing that complies with health guidelines.

Candidates can sign up here to participate in the job fair.

Those who have not already completed a Teacher Application must do so prior to the job fair. Our Teacher Application can be found at www.dallasisd.org/careers. Also prior the event, we will ask you to upload your current certification and resume into a google document to share with principals.

Should you have any questions, please email us at futureteacher@dallasisd.org.

Dallas ISD will keep nine-week grading periods next school year as part of a broader effort to help mitigate learning loss and further support students.

There will be a reduced number of common assessments. to one in the fall and one in the spring. There will be a two-week window for common assessments, and each school will decide when to administer during that window.

With the reduction in common assessments and nine-week grading period, all teachers should send progress notes after each three-week time frame, so families are kept informed of their student’s progress.

Dallas ISD is proposing to raise the minimum district hourly wage from $12.12 to $13.50 per hour next year.

Employees in the positions that would be affected would receive an average increase of 10% with some employees receiving slightly less or more depending on individual specifics. The increase would affect about 7,300 employees, primarily in the Maintenance and Operations, Student Transportation, Food and Child Nutrition, Paraprofessional, Office Support, and Police and Security pay structures.

The district will continue to evaluate potential further increases to the Dallas ISD minimum wage in the future.

If the wage hike is approved as part of the proposed 2021–2022 budget, employees would see the increase reflected in their paychecks starting with their September 2021 paycheck effective to their 2021-2022 calendar start date.

The minimum wage increase is also included in the proposed District Improvement Plan that trustees discussed during the June 10 briefing.

Education is a life-long endeavor, and no one exemplifies the continuous pursuit of learning like Dallas ISD employees. Congratulations to all who worked their jobs and their studies during the 2020-2021 year to earn a variety of degrees.

Personalized learning teachers who just completed their Blended and Personalized Learning Graduate Certificate from Texas Tech University:

• Juan Moreno, Personalized Learning Preparatory at Sam Houston Elementary
• Angelica Leal Ventura, Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy
• Jorge Alvarado, Dan D. Rogers Elementary
• Yesel Gutierrez, Solar Preparatory for Girls
• Lasonja Metcalf, Thelma Richardson Elementary
• Tiffany Hardy, Thelma Richardson Elementary
• Laura Reed, Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary
• Mayra Valencia, Personalized Learning Preparatory at Sam Houston Elementary
• Dania Marrero, Arturo Salazar Elementary
• Katerias Hill-Jones, Personalized Learning Preparatory at Sam Houston Elementary
• Yesenia Amador, Arturo Salazar Elementary