Dallas, TX
A Dallas all-girls school receives $2M to expand its reach
![A Dallas all-girls school receives M to expand its reach A Dallas all-girls school receives M to expand its reach](https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/D4LVI4YIJJE3FBZU7VK6ITUTNM.jpg?auth=837882b7c410e5689a0b6ec41f719d3109f600654809806fc07bbca6aac14292&height=467&width=830&smart=true&quality=40)
An all-girls Dallas middle school will add high school grades with the help of a $2 million gift.
This year, the Young Women’s STEAM Academy in Balch Springs added the ninth grade. The Texas Instruments Foundation grant will help the academy add a new grade per year through the 12th grade by the 2027-28 school year, when it will have the first graduating class.
“It’s not an expense. It’s an investment in you,” Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told academy students when the gift was announced Wednesday morning.
The academy, which opened in 2016, has about 760 students.
It now joins the Young Women’s Preparatory Network that partners with districts for all-girls schools. DISD also has the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, which serves sixth through 12th graders and is part of the network.
“It’s never been about achievement gaps in our schools. It’s always been about opportunity gaps,” Elizalde said. “What the Young Women’s Preparatory Network does for you, for us, is provide those opportunities.”
The network also has schools in Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and other Texas cities, serving more than 5,000 students.
“Over the last 20 years, 100% of our girls have graduated from high school, and 100% have been accepted to college,” said Lynn McBee, the network’s CEO. “Our girls get through college and graduate from college at about 69%, which is double the national average of girls who come from backgrounds that are underserved.”
Research shows many benefits for girls who attend school in all-girls classrooms, McBee said. Instead of taking notes, they lead meetings, she added.
“They become leaders,” she said. “They raise their hands. They answer questions. They’re not shy.”
Only about 25% of STEM jobs, or those based in science, technology, engineering or math, are filled by women, said Andy Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Instruments Foundation.
“We know that there’s a STEM confidence gap in girls versus boys. And girls, historically, have a higher level of math anxiety than boys,” Smith said.
One way to close that gap is by “ensuring that girls have every opportunity to explore their interests and gain that confidence, including in a supportive, all-girls environment,” he said.
The grant allows the school to expand while focusing on recruitment and training of science teachers, Smith said. It will also fund important resources that help students prepare for college.
Most of the school’s students will be the first in their families to attend college, academy principal Rubinna Sanchez said. A first-generation college student herself, Sanchez said that kind of support is something she didn’t have but would have made her journey “a lot smoother.”
“We’re going to be able to have a college success advisor, specifically for our girls, to guide them, to find the best scholarships, the best colleges that fit them,” Sanchez said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
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Dallas, TX
Dallas Mavericks open season against Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
![Dallas Mavericks open season against Victor Wembanyama, Spurs Dallas Mavericks open season against Victor Wembanyama, Spurs](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_BjKsT0VODozNQJrKrQycw1vXd0=/0x2:4300x2253/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25572330/2089867782.jpg)
The Dallas Mavericks will open the 2024-2025 season at home against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
According to Stein the date is set for Oct. 24 on national TV on TNT. This will be the second season in a row the Mavericks and Spurs open the season against each other, as Dallas faced Wembanyama in his NBA debut last year.
This will also double as the debut of Chris Paul as a Spur, who signed with San Antonio in the off-season. Paul played last season with the Golden State Warriors, mostly as a backup leading bench units. The Spurs didn’t make a big splash this summer, but with Paul, 2024 fourth overall pick Stephon Castle, and Wemby’s natural improvement coming into his second season, the Spurs should be a frisky division opponent, even if they aren’t a threat to make the playoffs. The Spurs finished 22-60 last season, second-worst in the Western Conference.
Dallas will start defending their Western Conference crown, attempting to make it back to the NBA Finals after an impressive run last season that saw the team fall short against the historically dominant Celtics in the Finals. In the last three seasons, the Mavericks have won 50 games twice, made it to the Conference Finals twice, and of course made the Finals.
In three games against the Mavericks last season, Wembanyama averaged 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game. Dallas went 4-0 against San Antonio last season, with Wembanyama missing one of the games. Doncic averaged a triple-double in those four games against the Spurs last season, averaging 29.3 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists per game. Dallas blew out the Spurs in two of the wins, and the other two were close, fourth-quarter clutch victories, including the season-opener last season when Kyrie Irving and Doncic led the way down the stretch.
Dallas, TX
From pot to police, Dallas faces a real charter danger
![From pot to police, Dallas faces a real charter danger From pot to police, Dallas faces a real charter danger](https://dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/EHVWV2WZUDHE72WWQEY4GRBD3A.jpg?auth=064fb981f05f88260bdbd54df9361661ed37a0b5d040890126952c27d97584b8&height=467&width=830&smart=true&quality=40)
The Dallas City Council’s first pass at proposing charter amendments was a swing and a miss.
From an unnecessary “preamble” that reads as a parody of progressive priorities to big raises and longer terms for council members, residents should be wondering what their City Council is up to.
We hope the July break put some council members in a better mind to actually focus on charter amendments that help the city run more efficiently while delivering excellent service.
Today, the council gets a second chance to do just that. And as much as we would like to encourage them to focus their energy there, we are worried that a more serious problem has taken precedence.
There are four proposed amendments to the charter that came not from the City Council but from petitions passed around by two interest groups. All of these amendments, if passed and placed in the charter, would represent serious dangers to our city. The council must focus its political efforts now on ensuring these proposals fail.
The first amendment would “legalize” possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana. If you don’t know how much marijuana 4 ounces is, it means you’re in business. Police Chief Eddie García has strongly warned that passing this referendum would be bad public policy that would make Dallas less safe.
But the pro-legalization group Ground Game Texas is trying to use Dallas’ charter amendment process to score some political points. “Legalize” is a loaded term here. State law trumps city ordinance, and possession is illegal in Texas. But even as a symbol, such an amendment could prove problematic for police trying to do their jobs.
As worrisome as that is, there are three amendments put forward by the group Dallas HERO that might be worse. These could actually do major damage to the city’s budget and its representative government.
The amendments are complex but would (a) require Dallas to hire 1,000 more police officers by charter, (b) set up the city manager to either double her salary or be fired based on a public survey, and (c) permit residents to sue the city based on failure to comply with its own charter.
If any of those sound reasonable to you, dig into the details.
Dallas already budgets to hire more than 200 cops each year. The problem is actually filling the jobs. There just aren’t enough recruits. And even if there were, there is no way the city could add 1,000 officers immediately without shuttering parks and libraries and letting potholes bloom.
A public survey to either overly reward or outright fire the city manager would be a disaster — so subject to political manipulation that it would leave the city facing ugly annual campaigns over how to fill out the survey.
Finally, the idea that any resident could sue the city for any perceived failure to comply with the charter would lead to massive legal costs for no purpose at all.
None of these amendments should be part of our city charter. They are each so legally dubious that we hope they wouldn’t survive a challenge.
But even the outside possibility that they might become part of the charter should focus the mind of City Council members and civic leaders against them.
We need a lot of political energy aimed at explaining to voters why these proposals would be a train wreck for the city.
Given that, the council needs to narrow its own focus on proposed charter amendments to the absolutely essential. Because come November, voters need to be fully informed about things that could really hurt Dallas.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
Dallas, TX
Dallas Mavericks Emirates NBA Cup Game Considered A ‘Must-Watch’
![Dallas Mavericks Emirates NBA Cup Game Considered A ‘Must-Watch’ Dallas Mavericks Emirates NBA Cup Game Considered A ‘Must-Watch’](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3927,h_2208,x_324,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/dallas_basketball/01j575awq470zcr0g9d6.jpg)
The NBA released its schedule for the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup with the Dallas Mavericks getting a tough draw, hosting the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies while traveling to play the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets. The Warriors game is garnering a lot of attention as that will be Klay Thompson’s first time back in Golden State since leaving the team.
Brian Martin of NBA.com compiled a list of the 12 “must-watch” matchups in the NBA Cup and included the Mavericks at Warriors as one of them.
“In one of the biggest moves of the offseason,” Martin said, “Klay Thompson left Golden State in a sign-and-trade deal with Dallas. After 11 years and four championships with Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors, Thompson starts a new chapter with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Mavs. The Emirates NBA Cup will provide a stage for the first Klay-Warriors reunion game.
“After watching the Splash Bros rain 3s on opponents for more than a decade, now we get to see them do so against one another.”
READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks Center Is Potential Early 2028 Team USA Olympic Candidate
The matchup between the Mavs and Warriors is part of opening night for the Emirates NBA Cup and fans will be tuned in to see what kind of game Thompson has against his former team and what kind of tributes the Warriors give to their former superstar. Thompson was a key component of a dynasty that won four championships and made five All-Star games in the process.
Thompson signed a 3-year, $50 million contract with the Mavericks this offseason as part of a sign-and-trade and he’s hoping to prove he can be a valuable asset to a championship team. Dallas got to the NBA Finals last season but lost to the Boston Celtics in five games.
The Warriors used the money freed by letting Thompson walk and waiving Chris Paul to bring in Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton, and Kyle Anderson. Whether that will be enough to make up for the loss of Thompson, who averaged 18 PPG last season while shooting 38% from three-point range, will be an intriguing storyline.
READ MORE: Games Announced For Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics in NBA Finals Rematches
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