Connect with us

Dallas, TX

Who is running for Dallas ISD school board?

Published

on

Who is running for Dallas ISD school board?


School safety, teacher retention and student success are the key focuses of candidates as two seats on the Dallas school board are up for grabs.

The new trustees will join veteran representatives in working with Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde to steer the second-largest district in Texas as it works to boost academic performance and manage a roughly $1.9 billion budget.

Trustees set DISD priorities for serving the district’s roughly 140,000 students, pass legislative agendas and evaluate the superintendent’s effectiveness. Election day is May 4; early voting runs now through April 30.

District 1 trustee Edwin Flores is stepping down to pursue a seat on the Dallas College board. District 9 trustee Justin Henry – who is currently board president – also is not seeking reelection. Both have endorsed candidates who they want to succeed them.

Advertisement

The Education Lab

Receive our in-depth coverage of education issues and stories that affect North Texans.

Dan Micciche, who represents the District 3 area that includes Northeast Dallas, is running unopposed for reelection.

District 1

Three people are seeking the Northwest Dallas District 1 seat.

Flores is endorsing Lance Currie, a law firm partner with two kids in DISD. Currie has worked with multiple organizations supporting public education, including Reading Partners and EducateDallas. Currie said it’s vital to have a parent’s perspective on the board.

Advertisement

Currie has worked alongside Flores for years to understand the district’s direction and priorities, including as the trustee’s appointee on a racial equity advisory council.

“He has the right experience, the right demeanor, the right understanding,” Flores said of Currie.

Currie said he wants the district doing additional work to figure out what happens to students after they graduate and set goals based on their success. He’s supportive of one of the district’s key reforms: the Teacher Excellence Initiative, a pay-for-performance compensation model.

“If you’re gonna have to live with some turnover, I’d rather keep the really effective [teachers] and have the other ones find the places that they need to be so that our kids can continue to learn,” Currie said.

He’s running against nonprofit field director Maureen Milligan and Chris Roberts, who works in information technology.

Advertisement

Milligan wants school leaders to pause and determine what is succeeding – and what isn’t – as the district grapples with budget challenges and declining enrollment.

“We really need this comprehensive assessment of what programs have been working – how our facilities and our investments, staff and the rest of the system can really be strategically designed,” she said.

Milligan acknowledged that could mean fewer schools in the future. DISD’s enrollment has decreased by more than 15,000 students since 2018-19.

She is involved in many civic organizations, including the City of Dallas 2024 bond taskforce. As trustee, she said she would increase the number of parents and community members who participate in campus-level decision making.

Prior to Roberts’ career in technology, he was a middle and high school band director. He’s an advocate for additional music education, more restrictive technology policies and stronger discipline.

Advertisement

“If we have strong discipline, it would actually be a recruiting tool,” Roberts said. He added that he wants DISD known as a place where “we’re good with discipline. We have a tight ship.”

He said his ideas would likely be met with a lot of “noise” initially but would be in the best interest of the district.

DISD overhauled its discipline practices in recent years, aiming to keep more kids on campus and solve underlying behavior issues. The district wanted to tackle the negative impact of exclusionary discipline, which removes students from class and disproportionately affects students of color.

District 9

Four candidates are seeking to represent District 9, which includes South Dallas along with parts of downtown, Pleasant Grove, Deep Ellum, Uptown and East Dallas.

Henry supports Ed Turner, an insurance broker and longtime DISD volunteer who previously sought the same seat.

Advertisement

Henry said Turner will keep his focus on what’s best for kids and can build relationships even with those he disagrees with. Turner is the only candidate with a significant campaign finance balance. The latest reports online showed he had roughly $16,000 cash on hand.

Student safety is top of mind for candidates. A DISD student wounded a classmate in a shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School earlier this month, raising concerns about how a teenager brought a gun onto campus despite the use of metal detectors and clear backpacks.

Turner – whose daughter attends a DISD school – said he wants to see more focus on keeping students safe from fentanyl.

“Every teacher, everyone in the building, should be trained on identifying overdoses,” he said, adding that there should be easy access to medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses.

One of his opponents, Oralia Alonso, a parent instructor/liaison at Ann Richards STEAM Academy, said she’s in favor of more mental health resources.

Advertisement

“The district has programs available,” she said. “But are they reachable to every school? Do the parents have that information?”

The candidates have various ideas on tackling teacher retention.

Da’On Boulanger-Chatman, a fine arts teacher in Garland ISD, said that while he supports the overall idea of the Teacher Excellence Initiative, he wants to make changes to the system so educators don’t feel in competition with each other.

“This is not to say that the TEI program is not effective in many ways. It is,” he said. “However, the verbiage and the selection criteria that is presented to the teachers is not a morale booster.”

He also wants educators who win “Teacher of the Year” awards to get a seat at the boardroom table for trustee meetings.

Advertisement

Community organizer LaKashia Wallace suggested moving to a four-day school week to attract successful teachers. Fridays could be used for academic remediation for students who need it, she said. A few smaller area districts have moved to shortened weeks, including Anna, but large urban districts have stayed away from this model.

“Since we’re in a budget crisis, what can we do to look and see incentives for teachers and staff?” she said. “Get what we need done and give teachers an opportunity to rest.”

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.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Dallas, TX

Hania Aamir explains why she abruptly left her Dallas meet-and-greet

Published

on

Hania Aamir explains why she abruptly left her Dallas meet-and-greet


After her Dallas meet-and-greet ended abruptly, leaving fans disappointed, Hania Aamir explained in an Instagram story that she left early because an event organiser allegedly verbally abused her and her manager, Maida Azmat.

In a detailed Instagram story, Aamir maintained that she loves and respects her fans, and that the event ending suddenly was unfortunate. She said she was proud of the fact that her fans had built a community of love, trust and support, and therefore offered some transparency regarding the matter.

“Everyone saw videos of me walking to the crowd and taking pictures and everything was fine. When I was going back to my seat I heard one of the organisers verbally abuse my manager. So I walked up to her and asked what had happened and told the man (one of the organisers) that he cannot speak to her like this. She was so distraught that she went backstage. I followed her to make sure she was okay and Fahad [Mustafa] being a gentleman also came to check up on her.”

Backstage, the Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum actors started taking pictures with fans, however, Aamir said the event organiser in question chased after them, allegedly calling them names and telling them to leave the premises.

Advertisement

“[He] called off the security protocols, and verbally assaulted us even more (people had to hold him back). We were rushed out by our promoter Arif Khan to not further escalate anything and we managed a personal means of transport to get back safely to the hotel.”

Aamir emphasised that no one had the right to disrespect another person, regardless of their position. She continued that just because women were in male-dominated fields, it was wrong to assume that someone could get away “with almost anything” without the women taking a stand for themselves.

“Thirdly, we as a fraternity put in a lot of effort to make our fans happy. And such people with their theatrics are mostly trying to paint us black. I don’t know, maybe it does something for their ego. But promoters/ organisers need to step up and make sure such clowns don’t ruin the events and the experience for the fans and the artists.”

The Mere Humsafar actor also called on media outlets to show responsibility with their journalism and stop levelling allegations against artists without facts.

“Last but not the least, I would like to apologise to every single one of you who came. And I dearly love every single one of you. I am sorry things had to end this way. Just have to get through with the bad days I guess.”

Advertisement

Support from entertainment industry

Soon after Aamir’s statement, she was flooded with support from the entertainment fraternity, with many decrying the disrespect she faced.

Fellow actor Yashma Gill reshared Aamir’s story and said, “Like always, immense respect for Hania Aamir and Maida Azmat for handling the situation not only professionally but also with bravery.”

Gill added that there was no place for disrespect in the entertainment or other industries. “Let’s call him out so no one ever has to go through the same because of him or people like him again.”

Actor Maya Ali said, “Disrespect is unacceptable at any cost or under any circumstances. I am so proud of you for handling this situation with such grace. It’s truly disappointing that some individuals failed to show respect to our Pakistani stars and their teams.”

Actor and internet personality Umer Khan, popularly known as Ukhano, shared pictures of him with both Aamir and Azmat, and said, “No one should have the right to disrespect our stars”.

Advertisement

Khan added that Aamir always devoted herself to her craft and fans, which is why she is “Asia’s most influential artist”, and that Azmat had been his mentor since he started working and inspired him with her professionalism.

“If some third-class promoter can’t show respect and love to our stars then everyone should walk out and boycott such promoters. We stand with you.”

Actor and musician Azaan Sami Khan said, “It’s unfortunate to see the artist being blamed without understanding the complete context.”

Actor Namreen Khan echoed others’ sentiments and wrote, “No one has [the] right to disrespect artists. Hania Aamir is a gem of a person! Her love and respect for fans and people is no secret.”

Radio personality Anoushey Ashraf also said that there was no room disrespect and abuse for anyone.

Advertisement

“Artists are our pride and assets. Am sorry you had to experience this. At the end of the day, people show their own upbringing and mindset when they decide to disrespect a woman (and many a times one from media).”

Filmmaker Nabeel Qureshi said, “This has always been the case with the majority of promoters. In the end, it’s the artists and fans who have to suffer, while the promoters still manage to benefit the most.”

Actor Hira Khan wrote, “No, you can’t put everything on the artist because it’s easier for you to do so!”

Fashion stylist Aarinda Noor, who dressed Aamir for the event, said, “No one has the right to disrespect anyone! It’s very easy to escalate negativity and extremely difficult to understand the responsibility.”

Aamir’s Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum co-star Fahad Mustafa has not commented on the situation yet.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Dallas, TX

Here is everything you need to know for Sunday’s Cowboys and Eagles game

Published

on

Here is everything you need to know for Sunday’s Cowboys and Eagles game


The Dallas Cowboys are undefeated this season in games played where they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Whether or not that continues to hold true over the final two weeks of the regular season will be of extreme fascination.

Up next for the Cowboys is their final road trip of the year, a venture to face a division rival in the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the Eagles’ loss last week to the Washington Commanders that served as the final straw that eliminated Dallas from the playoffs, and as a result, Philly all but took themselves out of contention for the top seed in the NFC.

Still though, a win would give the Eagles the NFC East title, their first since 2023. Whenever the division is secured it will mark the 20th consecutive year that the NFC East has seen its reigning champion fail to repeat so Philly will in all likelihood be the team carrying that burden next year.

Cooper Rush, CeeDee Lamb, Rico Dowdle and co. will have their hands full on offense while Micah Parsons, Marist Liufau and DaRon Bland look to help Dallas continue their form on defense. Even with the season being effectively lost before it was official we have seen the Cowboys playing hard and it stands to reason that this will continue in the City of Brotherly Love.

Advertisement

Here’s our stream for everything you need to know about it all. We will update it throughout the week to include all relevant news regarding the game, injuries and everything else.



Source link

Continue Reading

Dallas, TX

Dallas weather: Cloudy Christmas forecast

Published

on

Dallas weather: Cloudy Christmas forecast


Christmas morning started off with fog and a bit of drizzle, but after the morning hours we should be dry.

Advertisement

Skies will be gray pretty much all day. Though you may see some sun peeking here and there.

High temperatures will end up in the high 50s today.

Advertisement

Thursday Forecast: Storm chances return

Storm chances return on Thursday morning.

Around 9 or 10 o’clock, rain is expected to begin to the west and move east throughout the day.

Advertisement

There is a high wind and hail risk with the storms, but that is mostly to the south and east of the Metroplex.

We could see some flight delays for people looking to travel on Thursday.

7-Day Forecast

Advertisement

There could be a few storms on Friday.

We expect some warm weather over the weekend.

Temperatures will be back in the 70s on Sunday.

Advertisement

WeatherDallas



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending