The 2020 year has truly been a trying one. When this year started, none of us knew what was in store for us. This pandemic has shaken our world and our lives. Despite this, our educators have been resilient heroes. They converted entire classrooms to full virtual learning in a week and continued to build bridges with students and families in this crisis. I wanted to start this annual reflection with a moment of deep appreciation for our educators.

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I also want to take a moment to give a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you for giving me the opportunity to serve in this role and make your voice heard at Dallas ISD. I am thrilled with the progress we have made and know that we have a long way to go.

Even in the face of a pandemic, we have been able to make enormous strides in Dallas ISD. Here’s a brief list of accomplishments that I am most proud to have led and/or supported this year that align directly with my core beliefs, which I espoused during my campaign for this office:

Racial Equity & Access for All

  • Dallas ISD partnered directly with the City of Dallas to fund planning to increase technology infrastructure and access in order to make sure that every single student in the district has access to high-speed internet.
  • Dallas lSD led a broad coalition of community organizations and trustees to write and pass a revised Racial Equity Policy, which requires regular presentations to the board and a public-facing dashboard to measure progress towards achieving racial equity.

Respect & Empowerment of Campus Staff

  • The district provided more than $97.6 million in raises for educators across our system for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, including more than $70.1 million for teachers and an average raise of 11.6% for counselors.
  • The district increased support for campus teachers and administrators, including a measurable, anonymous way to seek feedback on how our campus educators are feeling, explicitly outlined in our district’s Educational Philosophy Policy.

Dallas ISD District 7 Updates

  • John H. Reagan Elementary Gets a New Name: This month, the John H. Reagan Elementary community voted to approve a new name for the school — Bishop Arts STEAM Academy! More than 430 community members made their voices heard in the voting process with Bishop Arts STEAM Academy earning more than 70% of the total votes.

Upcoming Events:

  • Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.: Dallas ISD Board Meeting
  • Saturday, Jan. 23: STEM EXPO (register here).
  • Virtual office hours for January: I am happy to schedule video chats, phone calls or socially distanced coffees with any and everyone who would like to chat about items concerning Dallas ISD. Please reach out to me at BenMackey@dallasisd.org to set up a time.

Dallas ISD Trustee
Ben Mackey, District 7