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Greetings, District 2!
Summer is here! Catch up on what’s happened in June in this last letter for the 2023-2024 school year. As July is a month without board meetings or briefings, my next newsletter will come your way in August. Have a great summer!
Dallas ISD District 2 Monthly Updates:
Dallas Summer Programs Off and Running: Dallas ISD is proud to offer comprehensive, free summer programs across our district for students, including both academic and extracurricular opportunities. Thousands of students have engaged in activities over the course of this month, such as the Dallas Public Library’s Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge!
Workforce Development: The many Dallas ISD industry partnerships in the P-TECH/Early College programs and Career Institutes enable students to participate in internships which provide employment skills and experiences. Developing our students to thrive in the workforce depends on strong classroom and relevant hands-on experiences. Thank you to our 300+ industry partners!
Stanza Ovation for Dallas' New Poet Laureate: As Dallas’ second Poet Laureate, Dallas ISD Alum Mag Gabbert will work to engage and inspire our community to read, write, perform and appreciate the written and spoken word. She will present her original poems at schools, libraries and events across the city in her two-year term.
June Board Meeting Debrief:
This month, Dallas ISD had its last regular board briefing and meeting of this school year. I’ve chosen to highlight three important items below:
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Teacher Satisfaction Survey: Campus climate survey results showed high levels of staff satisfaction. Dallas ISD saw strong gains, with improvement in 10 of the 10 survey components. Notably, the most significant increases were in morale and student discipline. Focusing on staff recognition, career conversations and classroom management training can improve teacher retention (related data on pages 6 and 7, here)
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Student Code of Conduct: This month, board approved the 2024-2025 Student Code of Conduct by a vote of 7-0. Of note is the redesign of the discipline system implemented in the last few years. By focusing on addressing root causes and providing deeper support for students, Dallas ISD has seen fewer discipline incidents and lower recidivism. This year’s Code of Conduct continues to improve upon what is working. Kudos to my fellow trustees, Board President Joe Carreon and Ben Mackey, for their related opinion piece highlighting how ending suspensions has worked for our students.
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District Improvement Plan: An overview of data-informed and budget-aligned strategic planning for the next school year was discussed. Administration is working to measure the return on investment of the specific strategies in their ability to improve student achievement to better inform ongoing decision making and investment.
Dallas ISD Bond Construction Update:
Campus infrastructure upgrades funded by the proceeds from the 2020 Bond continue. Campus specific updates can be found on the Bond 2020 dashboard.
As always, please reach out to me if you have thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello!
Best,
Sarah Weinberg
P.S. DONATE button: Please consider supporting my campaign communication infrastructure which helps to keep our community engaged!
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