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As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 160,000 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken.  Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISDemploys 18,613 employees including 10,000 teachers in 220 schools.

R. L. Thornton Elementary School Auditorium

6 Sep 2000

The staff and students at Robert L. Thornton Elementary School invite the community to attend the dedication ceremony of a facility at the school.

The naming of the Areatha Simmons Jones Auditorium honors the school's former principal and long-time educator who retired this year. The program and reception will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, September 17, at 6011 Old Ox Road.

Under her leadership, Simmons Jones implemented a quality after-school care program on campus and the school's PTA enrollment reached approximately 600 members. The partnership she established with local churches received many awards, including the Governor's Excellence in Education and the Dallas Public School's Gold and Silver Star Awards.

Simmons Jones was born in North Carolina. She graduated valedictorian from high school and entered Hampton University. She graduated from Florida A & M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education and English. She received Master and Doctoral degrees in education from East Texas State University (now, Texas A & M University) in Curriculum and Instruction, Reading and Public School Administration. Throughout her career, Simmons Jones taught in the public schools of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the European Dependent School System, and part-time at Cedar Valley College.

For the past 9 years Simmons Jones served as principal of R.L. Thornton Elementary School. In addition, she worked as a curriculum writer, team teaching project chair and committee member of the Southern Association Accreditation Evaluation team.

Her numerous memberships include the National Education Association, Classroom Teachers of Dallas, Dallas Council of Teachers of English, Phi Delta Kappa, International Reading Association, Dallas School Administrators Association and the North Texas Writing Project.

Currently, Jones is a member of the Board of Trustees for Presbyterian Children's Home and Service Agency, where she is the first African American to serve as chairman of the board in its 97 year history.

Simmons Jones is married to William C. Jones. They have two children.