Dallas ISD is looking for a new executive director for athletics to replace Silvia Salinas

Silvia Salinas is no longer the executive director of athletics for Dallas ISD, and the Dallas area’s largest school district has posted the job opening on its website.

Salinas’ job status is unclear. All questions to Dallas ISD were referred to the district’s communications department, which declined to comment.

“Dallas ISD does not comment on personnel matters,” said Robyn Harris, Dallas ISD’s executive director for communication services.

Salinas did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Salinas was named acting executive director of athletics for Dallas ISD in 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the position in DISD history. The district has 22 high schools that compete in UIL athletics, 10 more than any other district in the area.

With Salinas in charge, the district announced in 2022 that it was providing a one-time salary adjustment of $15,000 to current head football coaches and would adjust the pay range for that position. Future candidates will be hired based on the revised pay range.

Dallas ISD said the adjustment will place the district’s head football coaches among the highest paid coaches within North Texas, increasing the average salary to more than $122,000. The pay range will now start at $95,000, up from $84,000.

Another win for Dallas ISD during Salinas’ tenure was that bond packages provided major athletic facility upgrades throughout the district. Also, DISD is spending $44 million on cocurricular and extracurricular activities this school year.

South Oak Cliff won the Class 5A Division II state title in 2021, giving Dallas ISD its first football state championship since 1958 and its first UIL football state title since 1950. SOC won a second straight state title in 2022. Kimball won the 5A boys basketball state title this year.

But in football, South Oak Cliff and Carter (lost in the second round) were the only Dallas ISD teams to make it past the first round of the playoffs this season. In volleyball, baseball and softball, no DISD schools advanced past the second round of the playoffs.

There was negative publicity, too.

An accidental shooting at a San Antonio athletic complex injured an 18-year-old Dallas ISD student and led to the arrest and dismissal of Kimball boys basketball player Kyron Henderson in 2022. Kimball was still allowed to compete in the state tournament that season and lost in the semifinals.

Salinas was an assistant athletic director in Dallas ISD from 2004 until 2019. Her first job in Dallas ISD was as a teacher and assistant coach for cross country and track at Skyline, starting in 1996.

Salinas later worked as a teacher at Bryan Adams and as a teacher and the head coach for cross country and track at W.T. White. Salinas also held jobs as a math teacher and cross country and track coach at Lockhart High School, as the head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Northwestern State University, as an adjunct faculty member for mathematics at Richland College.

Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle

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