12 Jan 2006
January is School Board Recognition Month
DALLAS-The Dallas Independent School District has joined other Texas school districts January in observing School Board Recognition Month.
According to the Texas Association of School Boards, school boards are charged with establishing a vision for a district's education program, designing a structure to achieve that vision, ensuring schools are accountable to the community and strongly advocating continuous improvement in student learning.
Serving without compensation, the DISD Board of Trustees establishes the policies by which district schools operate. Trustees also identify needs and establish priorities for the school system, from allocating financial and human resources to evaluating school performance.
A snapshot of DISD trustees follows:
* Lois Parrott is serving her ninth year as a member of the DISD Board of Trustees representing District 3 (Northeast Dallas). She has held the posts of first and second vice president of the board. In 2004, Parrott was elected board president.
An advocate of education, Parrott says, "I loved school and still do. My favorite subjects were music theory, biology, design, band and choir."
Parrott earned a doctorate in adult continuing education from Texas A&M University-Commerce, a Master of Education from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dakota Wesleyan University. An educator at Richland College since 1975, Parrott has taught design, humanities, and the classics. Before joining the faculty at Richland College, she taught at junior and senior high schools in the DISD.
Parrott has been recognized for her professional and volunteer work by several organizations, among them, she has received the Teacher of the Year Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organization Development and the Volunteer Service Award from the Northeast Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Texas Association of School Boards, Reading Academy Laureate Honorary Member, and Vickery Meadows Literacy Advisory Council. Parrott has been involved in state and national PTA organizations and is an active member of her local PTA.
* Ron Price was first elected to the Board of Trustees in May 1997. He currently holds the post of first vice president and represents District 9 (South Dallas and Downtown). He was the first DISD employee to win a board seat while still an employee of the district, and was the youngest person to be elected to the Texas Association of School Boards. He has served as first vice president and has served two terms as secretary of the board.
Price was a former instructor at Pearl C. Anderson Learning Center where he founded the Pearl Guards, a student group that focuses on student achievement, citizenship, and community involvement. Price and the Pearl Guards were instrumental in changing state law regarding the sale of alcohol near schools in Texas.
Price was the first African American to become the board secretary of the Dallas Independent School District since 1910. He is vice president of the National Caucus of Black School Board Members and was selected as one of 20 school board members to participate in a national leadership campaign forum on AIDS/HIV in the nation's minority communities.
* Jerome Garza, represents District 7 (North Central Oak Cliff, West Dallas), was elected to the Board of Trustees in May 2004. He currently holds the post of second vice president.
A banker by profession, Garza's position as a trustee continues a family tradition of public service established by his father, Trini Garza, the first Hispanic to serve on the Dallas Independent School District Board of Education in 1969.
Garza attended Winnetka and Stevens Park elementary schools, W. E. Greiner Middle School and graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University with a major in business and finance, and was also awarded SMU's prestigious "M" award. A small footnote to his college career was his service as a Congressional Summer Intern to U.S. Congressman Edward Roybal of California. While in Washington, Garza worked with a team of interns who created the database for what is known today as the National Association of Latino Elected Officials.
An active PTA member at his children's school, Garza has held leadership positions in the Oak Cliff community as a member of the Oak Cliff Lions Club, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, LULAC, and also volunteers as a coach with the YMCA.
* A teacher for 32 years and a Dallas resident since 1959, Nancy Bingham represents District 4 (Southwest Dallas, Seagoville). She was elected to the Board of Trustees in May 2004 where she holds the post of board secretary.
Bingham recently retired from the Mesquite Independent School District where she taught remedial reading, English as a Second Language and honors reading at the middle and high school levels.
As a member of several civic organizations, including the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, and the Coalition for the Betterment of Far Southeast Dallas, Bingham was instrumental in bringing city services such as a library and a recreational center to the Kleberg/Rylie area.
Bingham earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and a Master of Education with a reading specialist certification from Texas A&M University-Commerce.
* Elected to the Board of Trustees in May 2005, Edwin Flores represents District 1 (Northwest Dallas). Born and reared in Mexico City, Mexico, Flores is bilingual and bicultural.
Flores is a managing partner and founder of the intellectual property law firm of Chalker Flores LLP, where he focuses on biotechnology patent law. As part of the Lawyer-on-Loan program, he has served as an assistant district attorney in Dallas County.
Flores earned a bachelor's degree in microbiology from The University of Texas at Austin. At the age of 26, he received a doctoral degree in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis. His doctoral work included the isolation and characterization of immune-specific genes that could reverse the activities of known cancer-causing genes. After working as a scientific advisor with the law firm of Arnold, White & Durkee in Austin, he earned a law degree from The University of Texas School of Law. He also has published numerous scientific and legal publications in peer-review journals.
An avid reader, Flores has read the Harry Potter series in English and Spanish. "I enjoy these books because they are easy to read and every time I read them, I discover a new connection." Flores and his wife have two children.
* Jack Lowe represents District 2 (North and Near East Dallas). He was elected to the Board of Trustees in July 2002.
Lowe serves as board chair and managing director of TDIndustries, Ltd., a national mechanical and electrical construction and service company headquartered in Dallas.
Prior to his election to the Board of Trustees, Lowe provided executive coaching and leadership training for DISD principals, arranged board governance training and presented the Jack Lowe (Sr.) Teacher Awards. Through TDIndustries, Lowe has been involved in the Adopt-A-School program, now known as Partners in Education, and has sponsored Reading is FUNdamental.
A long-time advocate of public education, Lowe serves on the board of directors of the Texas Business and Education Coalition. Numerous other activities include the Salesmanship Club of Dallas (past president) and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership (board chair).
Lowe was the 1996 recipient of the Crystal Achievement Award from the National Association of Women in Construction for contributions to the advancement of women and minorities in the industry. In 2000, he was awarded the National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Principle-Centered Leadership, and in 2002, was honored with the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award from the SMU Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. Lowe graduated magna cum laude from Rice University with an engineering degree and is a U.S. Navy veteran.
* Lew Blackburn was elected to the Board of Trustees in June 2001. He represents District 5 (East Oak Cliff, West Dallas, Downtown and areas of Oak Lawn). Blackburn has served as second vice president and board secretary.
Blackburn has 19 years of experience in education. He began his career as an instrumental music teacher with the DISD, before serving as an assistant principal. Blackburn has worked for the Texas Education Agency, in the Division of School Accountability, and has served as a principal in Goodrich, Texas and Duncanville, Texas.
Blackburn also has experience as an instructor at various colleges and universities. He has presented workshops and written papers on parent involvement, student support, collaborative decision- making and communication for educators.
"I love to attend our students' graduations," he says. "They exemplify the culmination of students' success in DISD. It is their time to bask in the glow of achievement. "
Blackburn was born in Fort Worth where he attended elementary school. After moving to Dallas, he attended Holmes Junior High School and graduated from Roosevelt High School. Blackburn earned a bachelor's degree in music education, a master's degree in education from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Blackburn has three children; all DISD graduates. He lives in the Cedar Crest neighborhood of Oak Cliff.
* Representing District 6 (Southwest Dallas), Hollis Brashear, was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 1992, and was re-elected in 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2002. Brashear served as board vice president from 1994 to 1997. In 1997, he was elected board president, a position he held from 1997 to 1999, and again from 2003 to 2004. Brashear has chaired several committees of the board. His colleagues elected him first vice president in 2004.
Brashear, a native Dallasite, attended DISD schools and graduated from Lincoln High School with a solid foundation in mathematics and science. Among his many accomplishments, Brashear served for 21 years in the U.S. Corps of Engineers, commanded a combat engineer company in Korea and an engineer company in France. He was an engineer planning officer and advisor to a South Vietnamese engineer battalion during the Vietnam War and was awarded two Bronze Star medals.
Brashear later became professor of military science and department head at Colorado School of Mines. He is currently CEO of HNB Engineering.
* District 8 trustee Joe May, (Love Field, Northwest Dallas and Central Dallas), was elected to the Board of Trustees in August 2002. He was elected as second vice-president in May 2004.
Among his success stories, May counts the passage of a board policy that requires school principals to be able to communicate in the language of the majority of the students at the campus.
May works for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He also has worked as a youth counselor with the Dallas County Community Action Agency and as an investigator for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
He served two terms as president of the League of United Latin American Citizens and two terms as chairman of the Community Development Advisory Committee.
May was born in Laredo, Texas. He is a U.S. Army veteran, having served with the 4th Infantry and the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Following his military service, he attended East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce), where he received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees.