In order to help fill librarian positions, Dallas ISD is growing their own by encouraging teachers who are interested in pursuing this field to attend upcoming information sessions. These efforts, led by the Library and Media Services Department, are part of the district’s teacher-to-librarian cohort for the fall of 2023.
In these sessions, several universities—including Sam Houston State University, Texas Woman’s University, and University of North Texas—that have school librarian programs will present information about the different programs offered.
The minimum requirements to be a part of the teacher-to-librarian cohort include two years of classroom teaching experience and a valid K-12 teaching certificate.
The information sessions will take place 5-6 p.m. on the following dates:
Nov. 14
Nov. 15
Nov. 29
The meetings will take place virtually and can be accessed by clicking on the link in the flyer. For more information, contact Tabatha Sustaita-Robb at tsustaitarobb@dallasisd.org.
Alternative Certification interns could be eligible for reimbursement of their program fees if currently enrolled in an Educator Preparation Program.
The Alternative Certification reimbursement incentive is designed to support teachers during the 2023-2024 school year, and those who are eligible could be reimbursed up to $4,000 contingent on fund availability and approval by Human Capital Management. This reimbursement does not apply to the district’s Alternative Certification program interns, whose tuition and fees have been waived. The deadline to submit for reimbursement is May 31, 2024.
To be eligible for the reimbursement:
You must be a teacher during the 2023-2024 school year.
Your intern or probationary certificate must be posted on the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website no earlier than January 2023.
You must submit an official statement from your Alternative Certification program reflecting fees incurred and paid during the 2023-2024 school year.
Please click here for instructions on how to submit your official statement and click here to sign up for an Alternative Certification Reimbursement information session.
For additional questions or concerns contact (972) 925-4260 or certification@dallasisd.org.
The search for Dallas’ new poet laureate is underway, and one of Dallas ISD’s talented wordsmiths could be chosen. You just need to apply.
Every two years, Dallas chooses a poet laureate to help encourage greater literacy awareness, according to the Dallas Public Library’s website. The current poet laureate, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, is a product of Dallas ISD, having graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. This next poet laureate will hold the post starting in April 2024 through March 2026.
The Dallas Public Library, the City of Dallas’ Office of Arts and Culture, and Deep Vellum Bookstore & Publishing Company began the program in 2022, which means this is only the second time the search for a poet laureate for the city takes place.
The Dallas Public Library’s website describes the poet laureate role as one of a liaison, advocate, and leader who inspires the diverse residents of Dallas to read, write, perform and appreciate the written and spoken word. Part of the poet laureate’s duties includes serving as an ambassador by presenting original poems at community events and ceremonies throughout the city of Dallas. The chosen poet will also hold artist-in-residence office hours at the Erik Jonsson Central Library located in downtown Dallas.
Some of the perks of being the poet laureate is receiving an honorarium of $20,000 during the two-year term, as well as a $2,000 advance with Deep Vellum to publish a full-length collection of original poetry. If you’d like to learn more and apply, visit https://dallaslibrary2.org/poetry/poetlaureate_guidelines.php.
As Dallas celebrates America Recycles Day, Nov. 15, the district continues to increase its recycling efforts in schools and other facilities. In the last five years alone, recycling in the district has increased from 12 percent to over 17 percent, according to Bryant Shaw, manager of the Energy and Sustainability Department. Since 2017, the district has also had a 52% decrease in trash going to the landfill.
In 2015, Dallas ISD replaced the polystyrene trays with compostable plates in the cafeterias, and Shaw said the district hopes to add compostable trash bags and utensils by 2027.
Dallas ISD is making progress to match national recycling numbers, which, according ot the Environmental Protection Agency, has increased 32 percent from 7 percent in 1960.
Many schools throughout the district get their students engaged by participating in learning activities and clubs that promote recycling.
“Some schools have a second generation of families participating—the parents participated in recycling when they were in school and taught their children about recycling. Now their kids are practicing this in the schools,” Shaw said.
If you’re interested in starting a recycling program at your school, you can find that information at the district’s Energy and Sustainability Department page here. It also includes online training, frequently asked questions, a recycling checklist, among other resources.
The EPA also offers free online tools for schools and parents such as packing a waste free lunch to science fair activities centered around recycling, just to name a few. You can access these resources here.
Whether at schools or at home, we can all do our part to protect the environment and recycle. If you need a recycling roll cart or need one replaced, you can request one via the City of Dallas’ Department of Sanitation Services, by accessing their page here.
According to the EPA, some of the things we can do at home include: learning to compost at home; having a yard sale to find homes for clothes, toys, appliances, and books that you no longer need; using old newspapers to wrap fragile materials when moving; and buying reusable mops, rags and sponges when cleaning.
In the more than 20 years Yatta Johnson—a licensed mental health clinician—has worked as a school psychologist, she has played many roles but perhaps none more crucial as the one she has now at Emmett J. Conrad High School. Every day, she connects with students, guides them through difficult times and helps them better understand themselves and others.
Johnson is one of several school psychologists in Dallas ISD, and thousands throughout the country, whose work is celebrated and highlighted through Nov. 10 during National School Psychology Week.
“I’m a non-traditional school psychologist because my degree is in mental health counseling psychology and clinical psychology,” said Johnson, who is originally from Dallas and returned 23 years ago after obtaining her degrees to work in a school setting.
She is proud to be part of Dallas ISD’s Mental Health Services because the district takes an innovative approach to student mental health and is at the forefront of providing services, she said. More traditional school psychologist roles entail evaluating students for special education services or learning disabilities, serving in committees, and sitting in on ARD meetings.
“You might do a little counseling, but you don’t really get to interact with the general student population,” she said. “At Conrad, I get to work with students on anxiety, depression, help offer support, conduct suicide risk assessment, screen for potential risk of violence, assist with identifying student interventions and best ways to help stabilize students in crisis. I also provide resources to parents and assist with safety plans. I focus on helping students make good choices.”
As a school-based clinician first at H. Grady Spruce High School and now at Conrad, Johnson said she works as part of a team with the academic counselor and other team members to make sure students have the tools necessary to be successful. In her second year at Conrad, she also gets referrals from students she has been able to help.
“The need is great,” she said. “We have made mental health services very accessible. Parents can get on the website and indicate a need. Students can talk to a teacher or the school counselor, who then reaches out to me, or students themselves will come to me once they know who I am.”
If the student is under 18, parents are contacted before services are provided, and Johnson works on individual plans to address the issue at school and at home. While she does not provide long-term services, she can refer students and families to one of the district’s 13 Youth and Family Centers or community partners for additional support.
“The benefit of me being in the school all the time is that I can intervene if a student is having a panic attack or help de-escalate a problem,” she said.
She knows that she is making a difference when students tell her that the breathing exercises she taught them to deal with stress or anger are working or when they seek her out to share exciting news or just to talk.
“That’s rewarding,” she said. “I know I have helped my students by giving them the skills to be the best version of themselves, to help them make better choices, and to graduate college, career, and life ready!”
Reading is fundamental is more than a slogan to Marissa Tavallaee, principal at Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard. She has made literacy and reading—among students and team members—a central part of the school’s identity.
Not only do teachers in third through eighth grade incorporate novel studies into their TEKS-based lessons to encourage reading and schedule reading time, but Tavallaee sets aside between $7,000 and $8,000 of her school budget to buy each student a grade-appropriate book to take home.
“It’s a unifying feeling because no matter where you come from, you get to take a book home for yourself,” she said and pointed out that studies show children who have their own books at home read at higher levels. “The more kids read, the better off they are in every subject and better at communicating in general.”
She said teachers have embraced the novel studies and incorporate 15-20 minutes a week for independent reading time to the weekly learning schedule so students can read for pleasure, often in the school’s courtyard when the weather is nice. To make their reading time more fun, they are routinely joined by the school’s pet bearded dragon.
In her years as a teacher, assistant principal and principal, Tavallaee has confirmed that reading helps students develop critical thinking skills and helps them understand other people’s perceptions.
“It makes them well-rounded individuals and prepares them to face any challenges they may encounter,” she said.
In addition to reading, Tavallaee also has a passion for leading and working with teachers to help them help students succeed. She found her passion in pushing and supporting students and teachers as an AP chemistry teacher before coming to Dallas ISD. She then joined the district as an assistant principal at Raúl Quintanilla Sr. Middle School before becoming principal at Moroles.
“I think it’s a balance of being lovingly strict and warm and fuzzy while holding them to high expectations,” she said. “I want kids to be pushed and want them to be ready for the future.”
Because of the principal’s support of literacy, the school’s team members are also big into reading, so much so that Tavallaee started a book club for employees last year. With about 10 participating, it was so successful that they continued it this school year. Each person gets to pick a book to read, and the group meets monthly in the library to discuss them.
The book club, along with other activities, have created a sense of camaraderie and make team members excited to come to work, Tavallaee said. Seeing adults excited about reading also shows students that it’s an important activity.
“A mentor told me once, ‘If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to lead,’” she said. “It’s true. If you can’t read, you can’t do anything else. Reading in the book club has helped me be a better leader.”
The emphasis on reading throughout the school has paid off in many ways. Results for reading at the tested grade levels surpass those of the district and other schools in the vertical team at the approaches, meets and masters levels.
“We have seen a major decrease in bullying,” she said. “I think it has to do with students being more entertained by books than by social media. If you go to the cafeteria, you can see students reading during lunch. For them, going to the library is a big deal.”
In addition to fewer discipline issues, the school has seen an improvement in student surveys, especially in the areas of trust and enjoyment—70% of students have said they have someone on campus they can trust and feel comfortable to go to, Tavallaee said.
“My passion and my desire to want to help come through,” she said. “I want to make an impact on students and teachers and create an environment where people thrive, enjoy coming to work, and want to come to school.”
After extensive discussions and careful evaluation, the Destination Cloud project leadership team has made the decision to adjust the project direction and pause the fusion implementation. While the district is still moving the on-premise E-Business Suite (EBS) system to Oracle Cloud, the journey to get there will now look different.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of current infrastructure, culture, and future needs, Destination Cloud will now follow a “lift and shift” approach. This approach will allow Dallas ISD to leverage the cloud’s scalability, security, and cost-efficiency, while preserving the core functionalities of the existing EBS system.
A key aspect of this new approach: The processes team members are familiar with will remain largely unchanged, as the district is committed to preserving the essential workflows that have proven effective for Dallas ISD. This will support a smooth transition for everyone, one that reduces interruption of day-to-day operations.
The project timeline has also been shifted to make it more manageable and ensure the Destination Cloud team can balance their project work with their day-to-day responsibilities and other districtwide initiatives. The Destination Cloud team thanks everyone for their patience and understanding regarding this shift in direction. The team is thrilled as ever to continue this journey to optimize the infrastructure and drive student and district success. Stay tuned for further communications regarding the updated “lift and shift” approach to Destination Cloud, and reach out to OCTM@dallasisd.org with any questions.
For Patricia Alvarado, director of Library and Media Services, and her team, making sure that every Dallas ISD student has access to books—physical books or e-books—and other resources that support their learning is both a calling and a passion.
“I don’t remember having a lot of books when I was young,” Alvarado said. “We were very poor in Corpus Christi, so we didn’t have a lot of access to materials. That’s why that’s really a passion for me.”
Alvarado, who grew up in Corpus Christi, was born in the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, moved to Texas with her family when she was 5 years old.
“I never thought I would be the director of a department in Dallas ISD in a million years,” said Alvarado, who has been in this role for a year. “I mean, I grew up in Matamoros where we didn’t even have indoor plumbing at that time. I never expected to have this type of influence.”
Alvarado first came to the district in 2008 to become librarian at Eladio Martinez Learning Center and then worked at L.V. Stockard Middle School. She then became a coordinator in the department for a couple of years, before moving to Irving ISD as director of Library Services. Nine years later, she returned to Dallas ISD to take on her new position.
The idea of becoming a librarian first came to Alvarado when she was a parent volunteer in her kindergarten daughter’s school library. She thought that it would be a very fulfilling job to be a librarian, and she mentioned it to her daughter’s teacher who then suggested she get a master’s degree in library science.
The determination to become a librarian led Alvarado to go back to school to get her bachelor’s degree and teaching certification at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. She attended Texas Woman’s University for her master’s degree. She would take online classes during the school year while working as a bilingual teacher in Corpus Christi and would attend in-person classes at TWU during the summer months.
Alvarado remembers her eighth-grade English teacher recommending the classic Charles Dickens novel, “Great Expectations.” She read the book and got hooked not only on Dickens, but on reading. Alvarado says before her teacher encouraged her to read, she had never been identified as a reader, and she didn’t think of herself as a reader.
Reading that book may have also saved her life. She remembers being so captivated by the book that she turned down her sister’s invitation to go to a community dance at her church. That day, her friends were in a terrible accident that took the life of her cousin and caused serious injuries to her two sisters.
“I always think that reading literally saved my life,” Alvarado said. This personal connection to reading has stayed with her throughout her life.
Although she loved the vivid characters and storytelling in Dickens’ book and other books, she didn’t see authors and characters who looked like her—books she could identify with as a Mexican American.
“Diversity in the books that we have is so crucial because we want our students to feel good about themselves,” she said. “We want them to be inspired by what they read, to look beyond their immediate circumstances and know there is more out there for them.”
Alvarado uses the book “A Crown for Corina,” written by Laekan Zea Kemp and illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, as an example.
“I look at the illustrations in this book and think that this could be my niece,” she said. “She would be able to see herself in this book.”
Library Media Services uses metrics and usage data to cater to what students are reading at each individual campus. For example, students on one campus might be more interested in soccer books, while students on another campus might be interested more in football. Another popular resource is e-books. In the first nine weeks of the school year alone, the district circulated 40,000 e-books.
“This means that at least 40,000 times a student used their phone or mobile device to search for a book and checked it out to read, not because it was an assignment or required reading, but for pleasure!,” Alvarado said. “It’s like a 24/7 reading on demand, and we try so hard to create a collection that meets their needs. Whether students want fiction, comic books, or drawing books—that’s what we’re going to provide.”
In addition to books, Alvarado and her team provide resources and programs that cultivate a love of learning and a culture of literacy, she said. One of the ways they do this is Project R.E.A.D., a library redesign initiative.
Alvarado has passed on her love of libraries and public schools to her children—both are Dallas ISD graduates and are currently teachers in the district.
Alvarado’s favorite thing about her position is knowing that she had a role in helping students get motivated because they got a book that they wanted, they learned how to use e-books, or became good digital citizens—skills that help them become college ready.
“Because at the end of the day, motivating our students to read for pleasure builds their knowledge, expands their vocabulary and supports critical thinking, leading to more successful and confident adults,” Alvarado said.
Dallas ISD Library and Media Services has been working for two years on Project R.E.A.D., and since last spring, there have been almost weekly launches of libraries with schools posting their ribbon cuttings and school celebrations on social media.
Project R.E.A.D. is a library redesign initiative—whose acronym stands for research, exploration, application and design—intended to increase students’ interests in the arts and design, deepen their knowledge of coding, hone their speaking and presentation skills using digital broadcasts, and increase their critical thinking skills through research and collaboration.
Approximately 80 schools were scheduled to undergo this redesign.The project has been in the works for two years with design drafts and campus meetings to finalize the final plans. The grand reopenings began last spring. So far, 55 libraries have been enhanced through Project R.E.A.D., which includes 38 elementary schools and 17 middle schools and high schools. A total of 42,638 students have been impacted by the new library enhancements.
The funds for the redesigns cover new tables and chairs, mobile furniture and shelving, as well as technology for the READ zones, said Patricia Alvarado, director of Library and Media Services.
During a recent ribbon cutting at Barbara Jordan Elementary School, Assistant Principal Kirk Williams praised the amount of modernization and technology—a big change from what libraries used to be. Despite the modernizations, libraries are still performing the same functions supporting student learning, he said.
“You kids deserve the best opportunities, the best school, and the best library,” said Principal Luis Saucedo.
Alvarado agrees that the libraries of 2023 are so much more than just about books and reading.
“You know how you walk into a Starbucks and you see a lot of students there? That’s what we want to do for our students,” Alvarado said.
The younger generations are using libraries more than the previous generations, she said.
“Our school libraries offer access to many premium resources, including popular e-books, research and reference materials for completing assignments, test preparation and access to the Dallas Public Library, which is a portal to even more resources such as Linkedin Learning,” Alvarado said.
Through Project R.E.A.D. students also have access to augmented reality, broadcast zones and green screens, podcast equipment, coding technology and more, Alvarado said. An example of how new library technology supports learning is the ability for students to dissect a frog through augmented reality on an iPad.
For a complete list of schools that have gone through the Project R.E.A.D. redesign initiative, visit this link for more information. To keep up with the Project R.E.A.D. ribbon cuttings, you can follow @ProjectReadDISD on X.
As the world continues to become more dependent on technology, more and more learning is taking place online. Education is catching up, and Dallas ISD’s Educational Technology Department is leading the effort to meet the technological demands of evolving educational opportunities with a new tech hub.
“As we recognized the need to modernize technology at our campuses, we chose Frederick Douglass Elementary School as a technology incubator,” said Jon Hurley, assistant superintendent of Technology—Architecture and Operations. The work done at the school will serve as a guide for future technology upgrades in other areas of the district.
As part of the Douglass technology hub, the department provided every student with Chromebooks that include an integrated LTE hotspot that can pick up Wi-Fi network signals without the need of an additional device. The technology team also upgraded the connectivity infrastructure at the school. At the same time, the department is taking advantage of programs available in the community so students can have access to the internet at home to support their learning.
“We are aware of the challenges presented by this transformation,” Hurley said. “But the more we get students online, the more learning opportunities they will have. We are focusing on all technological upgrades and infrastructure.”
The recent pandemic exacerbated the need for connectivity for learning, and Dallas ISD was a leader in the state in ensuring students had access to online education. Several programs were implemented during that time to make sure students had access everywhere. Some worked and some didn’t, which is why the Douglass tech incubator is so important, Hurley said.
“It gave us a good idea of what works and what doesn’t, so it can be reproduced in other schools,” said Marlon Harrison, assistant superintendent of Enterprise Support Services. “We have a template.”
The department is still in the first phase of the efforts to continue to upgrade technology and access to the internet across the district, and the Douglass tech incubator showcases what can be done at other schools. The goal is that in five to seven years, every student will have a device with 5G LTE connectivity. The district has already invested in 15,000 laptops—like those at the Douglass tech incubator—with eSIM cards, or digital SIM cards, which can be paired with any service provider.
“This is a long-term plan,” Hurley said.
With an eye on equity, Educational Technology is working with other departments and Board of Trustees to enter into long-term contracts that will make the infrastructure upgrades possible, first in areas of greatest need and, eventually, across the district, he said.
The major infrastructure work in the first phases of the project will take place in the next three to four years, at the same time that the district continues to leverage federal technology funds to also upgrade devices for students.
“Eventually, everyone will be on these devices,” Hurley said. “The future is mobile, and access to digital learning for our kids is essential. We want them to have every opportunity that’s available to be successful.”
School. Every day, she connects with students, guides them through difficult times and helps them better understand themselves and others.
Not only do teachers in third through eighth grade incorporate novel studies into their TEKS-based lessons to encourage reading and schedule reading time, but Tavallaee sets aside between $7,000 and $8,000 of her school budget to buy each student a grade-appropriate book to take home.
