Courtesy of Dallas ISD Bond 2020
Greetings, District 2!
I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather! With spring in full bloom, here’s what’s unfolding in Dallas ISD this month:
Dallas ISD District 2 Monthly Updates:
Dallas ISD celebrated its 10th annual STEM Expo – To promote the joy of STEM education, students, parents, educators, community members, and other stakeholders gathered to engage in various exciting activities. Through this event, our students were able to investigate, design, and create real-world science, technology, engineering, and math activities and projects. The expo also served as a showcase for the incredible STEM- and STEAM-focused programs throughout the district.
Dallas ISD is a proactive state leader in Safety Assessments – Safety is a priority for district leadership and Dallas ISD volunteered to be the first in Texas to have a completed security assessment. To help improve school security measures, Dallas ISD worked with the Texas Education Agency’s team of assessors who toured district facilities to determine vulnerabilities based on an 11-point assessment that will be used in the future by school districts across the state.
Dallas ISD wins Dallas County Economic Mobility Award – The Commit Partnership, whose goal is to measurably increase the upward economic trajectory of our 25- to 34- year-old residents in Dallas County, recognized Dallas ISD’s outstanding efforts to equip students with the skills and resources needed to become thriving adults who are employed in meaningful jobs with meaningful pay.
D2 Bond Construction Updates:
Campus infrastructure upgrades funded by the proceeds from the 2020 Bond program continue. For up-to-date information across the district, please see Dallas ISD’s dedicated 2020 Bond website.
February Board Meeting Debrief:
In February, Dallas ISD had its regular board briefing and meeting. I’ve chosen to highlight the most important items below:
- Student achievement mid-year update: The most important thing our school system does is prepare students academically to thrive in our state, nation, and world. Every month, the board receives a clear update on progress toward our student outcome goals. This month, we received a middle-of-the-year academic report for all third through eighth grade students. In all six areas measured, Dallas ISD reported gains in every area, plus every demographic group showed absolute growth from last year as well. This is especially powerful considering Dallas ISD implemented a new curriculum this year. Usually, systems will see an implementation dip in the first year, but Dallas ISD has bucked that trend. However, while we showed growth across the board, we did not achieve a high bar for the growth we were expecting. As such, the superintendent and her team shared their strategies to continue accelerating the work and impact on our students.
- Dallas ISD 2023 bond projects year in review: At our February board briefing, the superintendent and her team gave an update on the 2020 Bond program. Thus far, $1.5 billion of the 2020 Bond has been deployed with 242 projects in various stages across the district. This progress encompasses a wide array of campus improvements,safety and technology enhancements that benefit students, and employment 48,795 workers. Community input at ongoing meetings has been essential to our success on these projects.. Thank you to our Bond Advisory Committee for their service with a special thanks to our District 2 representative, Wade Johns.
- Dallas ISD community budget meetings: Every year, the board adopts our subsequent year’s annual budget in June. In the next few weeks, Dallas ISD will host several 2024-2025 Community Budget Meetings, with dates, times, and locations listed below. At these events, the district will review the budget planning process and assumptions as well as provide the public with an opportunity to give feedback to inform budget planning for next school year.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello!
Best,
Sarah Weinberg
Sarah Weinberg.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Weinberg.
