District 3 principal wins national award 

It takes a team—teachers, support staff, parents and students—for a school to be successful, but it can’t happen without leadership and vision. That is what Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School Principal Sandra Barrios has brought to the school, and it has made a difference. 

The school has experienced an amazing turnaround in the time she has been at the helm, and this achievement was recognized earlier this fall when Lowe Elementary School was named a National Blue Ribbon School, one of three in Dallas ISD and 27 in Texas. Earlier this month, TDIndustries hosted a party for Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School staff to celebrate the school’s recent National Blue Ribbon School designation. It was an honor to be part of the celebration and to recognize the school’s achievements.

All of us in District 3 are proud of Principal Barrios’ accomplishments and congratulate her for receiving the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership from the U.S. Department of Education a few weeks ago. Barrios was one of 10 principals recognized as the nation’s best school leaders from among the 362 National Blue Ribbon schools this year.

Dallas ISD is working to develop more educators like Principal Barrios by “growing our own” teachers, thanks to several collegiate academy pathways dedicated to education. There are early college education pathways at our own District 3 Bryan Adams High School, as well as at W.T. White, Sunset, and W.W. Samuell high schools.

I am happy to say that several students currently in these pathways have already signed letters of intent stating that they would get a bachelor’s degree in education and come back to teach in Dallas ISD. 

It would be difficult to offer these collegiate academy programs without support from the business and higher education communities. We are very grateful for the education and industry partners that are working with the district to offer these valuable programs to our students to help them succeed in high school and get them well on their path to a college degree. One of these partners is STEMuli, whose founder and CEO, Taylor Shead, was recently named the winner of the Martha Stowe Leadership and Service Award at Emmett J. Conrad High School. Thank you for supporting and mentoring so many of our students.

Mark your calendars

Remember that schools will be closed for winter break. There will be no classes starting Friday, Dec. 20. Students will resume classes on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. 

Spring parent conferences will take place not long after classes resume:

Monday, Jan. 13 – High School

Tuesday, Jan. 14 – Middle School

Thursday, Jan. 16 – Elementary School