The Academy is a product of the Dallas desegregation court order. It's purpose is twofold: to encourage voluntary desegregation of Dallas Public Schools, and to offer Dallas Public School students the opportunity to explore their interest in several of the arts.

The Academy is located at 501 S. Edgefield Ave. in Oak Cliff and is an integral part of W. E. Greiner Middle School. The neighborhood is residential and predominately Hispanic.

The basic curriculum offered at the Arts Academy is, in most respects, identical to what they would find in any other DPS middle school. Each year every Greiner student, whether he of she is participating in the Academy or not, must take History, Mathematics, Language Arts, and Science. As a seventh grader, students must take one semester of COmputer Literacy and one semester of Physical Education. Finally, like and other DPS middle school, Greiner offers a full range of accelerated or honors courses for those who qualify. The time remaining in the students's normal seven period schedule can then be devoted to standard electives or, as in the case with Academy students, to those special art electives that comprise the Academy curriculum.

While it is true that most Academy electives are taught in a separate wing of the main building, it is also true that the majority of each student's day is spent, not isolated in the Academy wing, but mingling with the general student body. Academy students take all of their academic classes with the neighborhood students and are only separated from the neighborhood students when they take their Academy electives.

A full range of extracurricular activities, including all standard athletic programs, are available at Greiner.

Dallas Public Schools serves the Arts Academy with a fleet of buses that fan out all over the city. Normally, no DPS student who wishes to attend Greiner has to travel further than to his/ her neighborhood elementary school to catch a bus to Greiner. Parents are required to provide transportation home for any after school rehearsals or and performances that take place in the evening or on the weekend.

School hours are essentially the same at Greiner as they are at any other DPS middle school: the entry bell rings at 8:20 a.m.; the tardy bell rings at 8:30 a.m.; and the dismissal bell rings at 3:30 p.m. Bus pickup and delivery times vary from year to year just as do the routes themselves, but generally speaking, no bus ride will be longer than an hour, and most are much shorter than that. Please keep in mind, however, that some Academy programs may occasionally necessitate after school rehearsals, and at such times the parent must be willing to assume responsibility for the student's transportation home.

Every staff member currently teaching Arts Academy electives has college and professional training to qualify for that position. Of equal importance, every Academy teacher is qualified by virtue of his or her sincere interest in the arts and his or her devotion to sharing that interest plus wealth of knowledge with young people.

In the DPS, the Academies are middle school equivalents of what are known on the elementary level as Vanguard schools and at the high school level as Magnet schools. Naturally there is a transition from one level to the next. A student who has participated in the Arts Academy program should logically have an advantage when seeking admission to the Arts Magnet, but certainly many are accepted to the Arts Magnet each year that have not attended the Exploratory Arts Academy.

Admission is available to all DPS students. Ethnic ratios, as mandated by the federal court order, are a prime consideration. Other considerations or qualifications include the following.

1. Students must demonstrate the capacity to benefit from the programs offered,
2. While talent per se is not a prerequisite for acceptance, demonstrated interest is,
3. Students interested in attending the Academy muse complete and application and turn it in the school by the appropriate deadline,
4. Students who are notified of acceptance must in turn notify the Academy Coordinator of their intent to enroll,
5. Students who do not adhere to these application procedures or who fail to comply with the requirements of the Academy seriously jeopardize their chances for acceptance. However, students new to the DPS may be considered for admission to the Academy at whatever time they enter the district.

Please Contact:

Diana White
DiWhite@dallasisd.org
W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy
501 S. Edgefield Ave.
Dallas, TX 75208
972.925.7100