DALLAS ISD TO HOLD COMMUNITY MEETINGS TO DISCUSS IMPROVING NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS

8 Jan 2009

Program to Inform Parents, Legal Guardians About Progress of Dallas Achieves

DALLAS—The Dallas Independent School District will hold a series of 22 community meetings starting January 12 to inform parents, guardians and community members about their neighborhood schools and the efforts being made to improve them.

The community meetings are a component of Dallas Achieves, an initiative to transform Dallas ISD into one of the top urban districts in the country. The meetings are designed to report on curriculum improvements, empowered school leadership, and efforts made to improve teacher effectiveness, all of which have contributed to improved student performance. Parents and community members will also have an opportunity to ask questions about challenges facing the schools and how the district leadership plans to address those challenges.

"A successful school district has engaged students involved in a rigorous curriculum; it has effective teachers and empowered principals; and it has a supportive community informed about and involved in the schools," said Superintendent of Schools Michael Hinojosa. "In short, that is what Dallas Achieves is all about. These community meetings will provide an opportunity to take an honest look at the schools in each neighborhood and see what is being done to improve them and what each of us can do to make them better."

The first meetings will take place at 6:30 p.m., Monday, January 12, 2009 at Bryan Adams High School, 2101 Millmar Dr. and Thomas Jefferson High School, 4001 Walnut Hill Ln. Subsequent meetings will take place at various schools across the city. Parents are encouraged to attend the meeting held in their school feeder pattern.

Each meeting will last for approximately 90 minutes and will begin at 6:30 p.m. The following schools have been selected to host the meetings in their school feeder pattern during the week and at 10 a.m. on some Saturday mornings.