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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, DISD employs 18,613 employees including 10,000 teachers in 220 schools.

More Than 130,000 Students First Day

15 Aug 2001

MORE THAN 130,000 STUDENTS ATTEND FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL IN DISD

The Dallas Independent School District opened the doors of its 218 schools with 132,461 students attending classes the first day. This is an increase over last year's 128,270 student attendance on the first day. At some schools, students were greeted by teachers with banners and pompons. General Superintendent Mike Moses was on hand at Nathan Adams Elementary and Joseph J. Rhoads Learning Center to welcome students, meet parents and encourage teachers.

"I wanted to be in the field on the first day to encourage our teachers," Dr. Moses said at his first stop of the day at Nathan Adams. "We want our schools to be an atmosphere of learning and growth. Our teachers are the vital link to that goal. They are the people in the field working with our kids. I wanted them to know today and all through the year that I appreciate their work."

The district begins the school year with more than 70 percent of the 218 schools with no teacher vacancies. There are only 97 teaching vacancies throughout the district. With 47 of those schools with only one vacancy the district is at an all time low vacancy rate. The critical areas include bilingual (30 vacancies), ESL (seven vacancies), elementary (seven vacancies), and Spanish (10 vacancies). As of Aug. 15, there are only three math vacancies and no science teacher vacancies.

To ease the first day confusion from 7 a.m. until the 4:30 p.m., the district operated a parent hotline. Central administrative staff handled approximately 225 calls from parents and campus personnel. The command center fielded calls from ranging transportation to enrollment boundaries. The hotline telephones will continue through Aug. 20.

Other departments reported a smooth start on the first day of school.

The Food Services Department served approximately 150,000 meals during the breakfast and lunch periods.

More than 200 parents and their children were helped in the Student Transfer Office. Most of these students were requesting a school to school transfer within the district.

Visit the district's website at www.dallasisd.org for first day activities and photos and more information about the Dallas Independent School District.