The Dallas Independent School District is planning a "webinar" Tuesday afternoon on racial equity. The panel is the second in a series of events organized by the district's Racial Equity Office.
Dallas ISD's magnet and racial equity offices have been working together since June to provide support for African American and English-language learning students to apply for magnet schools. The partnership stemmed from a report prepared for the school board on how to provide equity and access to all students.
In the report, Keisha Crowder-Davis, Dallas ISD's executive director over the Office of Transformation and Innovation, says equitable access to magnet and lottery programs was listed as one of the top choices.
"The number of African American and EL students was low. It did not meet where the district is in the total number," Crowder-Davis says.
She says the Racial Equity Office has identified 3,000 students who qualify for magnet programs. Those who attend a webinar can learn about options that are available. They will then be paired with a mentor.
"The mentor will then walk them through the application process, be a support for them, help them with mock-interviews, essay writing, just preparing for the magnet assessment," Crowder-Davis says. "This is a support for the student to get over the finish line."
Dallas ISD has 30 mentors who graduated from, are counselors at, or teach at the schools students attend.
"You have someone you can work with. You have someone you can talk to," Crowder-Davis says. "You have someone who pretty much becomes a buddy through March or April. We're hoping these will create lasting relationships."
Panelists at the webinar will include former Dallas ISD Trustee Miguel Solis, retired teacher Shirley Ison-Newsom, former Texas Board of Education member Mavis Knight, Imagining Freedom Institute founder Amber Sims, and Ray De Los Santos, a higher education advocate and director of the Dallas office of the LULAC National Education Service Center.
“When we look at the data on academic achievement of our African American students, it blows my mind that, year to year, we’re still not closing the gap in reading and mathematics. Add to that the disproportionate impact that our disciplinary practices are still having on especially Black male students, and something has got to be done," Solis wrote in a statement.
Crowder-Davis says the webinar aims to help families learn about opportunities outside their neighborhood school.
"It's a game-changer," she says. "We want to make sure all of these students receive a best-fit school. Just because you've met the criteria to apply to Booker T. Washington [High School for the Performing and Visual Arts], you may not be interested in Booker T. Washington. You may be interested in Townview Science and Engineering."
The webinar premieres at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Registration is required