One of 12 new schools opened to students for the 2006-2007 school year, Arturo Salazar Elementary School is a 90,000-square-foot facility designed to accommodate 825 students. Located roughly half a mile from Weiss Park in southwest Dallas, the new school includes 37 classrooms, a kitchen, an auditorium, and a cafeteria.
Biography of Arturo Salazar
The school is named for Dallas ISD educator Arturo Salazar, who served as principal of Thomas J. Rusk Middle School and Anson Jones and Robert E. Lee elementary schools and, later, as executive director of the district's Career and Technology Education Department. Born in McAllen, Texas, in 1942, Salazar was raised and educated and spent his early career in south Texas, where he worked until he moved to Dallas in the mid 1970s as one of the few pioneer bilingual administrators to establish a base in north Texas. He became a role model and mentor for other Hispanics.
Salazar received a bachelor's degree in 1964 from Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas, and began his teaching career in the distributive education program at Weslaco High School. He soon was promoted to assistant principal.
Salazar was hired by the Edcouch-Elsa Consolidated School District in 1971. While he worked there as the director of vocational education, Salazar pursued his master's degree and doctoral program certification, which he received from Texas A&M University in 1976.
After he moved to Dallas, Salazar served for 26 years as assistant principal at J.F. Kimball High School and as principal at Anson Jones Elementary School, Robert E. Lee Elementary School, and T.J. Rusk Middle School. In 1992 he returned to the occupational education department as director. He ushered in a name change and a new dedicated focus for the program, known today as Career & Technology Education.
Salazar was instrumental in securing funding to implement career and vocational programs throughout the district. He also fought for technology improvements in secondary schools. When not helping school children, Salazar was helping adults file citizenship papers, improve their English skills, and get their GEDs through the Dallas ISD Adult Basic Education Program. He also reached out to help struggling adults in Garland, Carrollton, and Irving, Texas.
Salazar was a leader in many organizations including the Dallas School Administrators' Association, Dallas Association of Hispanic School Administrators, Dallas Association of Bilingual Education, and Dallas Central Lions Club. Friends and family members say he always placed his job and responsibilities ahead of himself, and he stood for excellence in education.
Arturo Salazar died Nov. 17, 2002, at age 59. One of his longtime Dallas ISD colleagues said of him, "Arturo Salazar built on the legacy his father and mother gave him –one of hard work, caring about family, and valuing education."
Biography of Arturo Salazar