By Laurence Iliff Staff Writer Page 1A MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Yellow school buses bearing names like “Cranberry Area School District” and “Dade County Schools” ply the streets of this Central American capital, as passengers hang out of the windows to fight the heat. Making their way around tiny Asian SUVs, the tightly packed buses could […]
Finishing what they started; DISD program turning ever more dropouts into high school graduates
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 17A It was his son who made Jesus Barraza want to go back to school. “I knew I wanted a better life for him,” said Mr. Barraza, 19, who dropped out of North Dallas High School soon after his son, also named Jesus, was born. “I knew I had […]
Ratings of 10 FW high schools rescinded over dropout tracking; State says too many students unaccounted for in district
By Laurie Fox Staff Writer Page 20A FORT WORTH – Fort Worth school Superintendent Thomas Tocco says he’ll seek an outside consultant and meet with principals after 10 schools were sanctioned for losing track of students who had left. The Texas Education Agency has told the district that it will rescind the “acceptable” school ratings […]
Lesson learned in DISD; After last bond, officials stress that needs for money may change
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 11A When it was still on the drawing board, the campus of Townview Center was the finest top sirloin. By the time it opened in 1995, the campus had lost some of its sizzle. The Oak Cliff school, built with bond money approved by voters in 1992, saw its […]
Bush signs far-reaching education bill; ‘America’s schools will be on a new path of reform’; More funding for low-income students to benefit area districts
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A President Bush signed his education bill into law Tuesday, acting on his top domestic priority and pushing many of the reforms that Texas has seen to a national scale. “As of this hour, America’s schools will be on a new path of reform and a new path of […]
30 Kennedy prints are on display
Forty thousand negatives taken by John F. Kennedy’s personal photographer were probably destroyed in the World Trade Center. But 30 prints taken from them are on display at The Sixth Floor Museum. Jacques Lowe followed JFK from his days as a senator through his brief presidency. His negatives, valued at $2 million, were stored in […]
Jammed schools calling for help; Can DISD bond fix this? Lunch at 10:15, shifts for restrooms, patched roofs
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 1A At some schools, teachers know all the students. At Burnet Elementary, teachers don’t even know all the teachers. About 1,550 students crowd into Burnet to learn everything from their colors to multiplication tables in prekindergarten through fifth grade. The northwest Dallas school was designed for about half that […]
United in public, not in private; DISD trustees’ intense disputes on redistricting revealed in transcript
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 35A Dallas school trustees say they’ve found a way to coexist peacefully and effectively behind the high-profile chief executive they hired to turn the district around. But transcripts of closed meetings that came out in the battle over the redrawing of voting boundaries indicate that, at least on one […]
Judge: DISD broke open-meetings law; Ruling on closed-door talks could void redistricting vote
By Tawnell Hobbs Staff Writer Page 35A A judge ruled Friday that Dallas school trustees violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by haggling behind closed doors while redrawing district boundaries. Attorneys for the Dallas Independent School District and Latino plaintiffs who sued the board said the ruling by 191st Civil District Judge Catharina Haynes could […]
Rare heart-lung transplant may give woman new life; Operation is 2nd done at UT Southwestern
By Joshua Benton Staff Writer Page 36A After surgeons filled the gaping cavity of Susan Gunia’s chest with someone else’s heart and someone else’s lungs, one of them noticed something different about her: “For all the time I’ve known Susan, this is the first time she’s not been blue.” Blue as in lips the color […]