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The appointment of five new members to Parkland Memorial Hospital’s board of managers will create the first minority-dominated panel in the hospital’s 117-year history.

“They’re going to bring a great perspective to the board,” said chairwoman Dr. Lauren McDonald, a board member since 1999.

McDonald, who is black, was joined last week by Eddie Reeves, a communications consultant, and Patricia Rodriguez Gorman, who runs a construction consulting firm. Reeves is black, and Gorman is Hispanic.  …continue reading EDCS board member, Eddie Reeves, appointed to Parkland board of managers

Maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success. But if we want to win the future – if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas – then we also have to win the race to educate our kids.

Think about it. Over the next ten years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school degree. And yet, as many as a quarter of our students aren’t even finishing high school. The quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations. America has fallen to 9th in the proportion of young people with a college degree. And so the question is whether all of us – as citizens, and as parents – are willing to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.

That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It’s family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.

Our schools share this responsibility. When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools don’t meet this test. That’s why instead of just pouring money into a system that’s not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all fifty states, we said, “If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we’ll show you the money.”  …continue reading Excerpt on Education from President Obama’s State of the Union on January 25, 2011

Tuesday’s garden kick-off party was a huge success. The Parent Organization would like to thank all those who came to help and join in the fun. We also want to offer a special thank you to Mark Ingraham and Leigh

Ann Romack, our garden committee chairs, for their tremendous efforts as well as Mr. Loew and Mr. Gordon for the many arrangements they made to make this happen.

Carolyn Perna arranged for the beautifully rich dirt to be donated and the neighbor association of Hollywood Heights also made a large donation that made the purchase of the untreated cedar wood for the beds possible. Thanks again to all those that played a part.

It was very rewarding to watch the children of LPCS enthusiastically fill their buckets and move all the dirt needed to fill our fine garden boxes. Oh the happiness…well done everyone!

Here’s a recap of the day…

Many handy and even the not-so-handy parents came out early to construct the beds. The whole school gathered and braved the cold for the garden ceremony.Rudy, a 3rd grader, shared a garden poem. Ms. Sandya’s class sang a few garden songs.

Three children from each class came and filled a bucket full of dirt for the ceremonial first dirt drop into the garden boxes.

After the first dirt drop all the children returned to their classes and then throughout the day each class returned to the garden and spent some time filling buckets and moving dirt until…
the boxes were…all full.Bravo!

East Dallas Community Schools
924 Wayne Street
Dallas, Texas 75254

Contact person: Stuart Williams, Director of Development 214.824.8950 x244
Steven Offield, Development Associate 214.824.8950 x249

Local school receives national award.
DALLAS – East Dallas Community Schools’ (EDCS) Lindsley Park campus has been awarded the 2011 Educational Achievement Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA).

“I cannot think of any award that I am more proud of than this one, which recognizes our work in supporting children’s emotional well-being,” said Terry Ford, Executive Director. “Since its founding in 1978, a founding principle of EDCS has been that emotional well-being is the key to providing our students with a foundation for success.”

The award is given to schools that further psychoanalytically-informed work with pre-K-12 educators, schools and their students. EDCS promotes emotional well-being by offering free on-site play-therapy sessions to children dealing with emotional or behavioral problems.

“Children may not be able to talk about their worries, so they communicate them through their play,” said Carol Wolfe, a licensed counselor who guides the play-therapy sessions. “In the presence of an accepting adult and through the children’s play, youngsters can come to face and master previously debilitating anxieties and fears. Then a child is better able to learn and work cooperatively in the classroom.”

In addition to play-therapy sessions, child psychoanalysts B. James Bennett and Sarah Rabb Bennett provide pro bono consultations with teachers helping their understanding of children dealing with emotional or behavioral problems.

EDCS uses the Montessori approach to education which is based on the child’s natural instinct to learn. In a neighborhood that is mostly low-income, the approach is clearly working. In 2010, EDCS’s Lindsley Park campus scored higher on the TAKS test in math and reading than the same grade level in Dallas ISD, and is in the top 17 percent of Texas schools that were rated exemplary.

Representatives from EDCS and Lindsley Park will accept the award at APsaA’s national meeting at the Waldorf Astoria on January 13, 2011 in New York City.

By BY HOLLY K. HACKER / The Dallas Morning News hhacker@dallasnews.com – Read Full Article

Published 20 September 2010 11:55 AM

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Students at Richland Collegiate High School take a full load of college classes and conduct a year-long research project.

KIPP school students commit to nine-hour days during the week, plus two Saturday and month and three weeks in the summer.

Yes Prep students agree to do all the work needed to get into a four-year college.

The missions and methods may vary, but these campuses have something in common: They’re Texas charter schools that earn high academic marks year after year.

Recently released 2010 ratings and TAKS scores show that Texas charter schools are more likely to earn either the very best or worst state ratings – exemplary or unacceptable – than regular public schools. This also holds true for the more than 120 charter schools in North Texas.

Given these extremes, it is little wonder researchers have reached no consensus on whether charter schools – public schools run by private groups and freed of many state rules – outperform traditional public schools.

Charter schools, by design, vary too much in their missions and kinds of students served. While regular schools serve everyone, one charter campus may cater to motivated college-bound students and another to struggling former dropouts.

Still, politicians and philanthropists want to understand why some charter schools do so well so that their success stories can be replicated across Texas and the rest of the country.

A closer look at local top-rated charter schools shows there is no one secret, but one thing is clear: They demand more from their students, parents and teachers.

“This is not for the faint of heart,” Richland Collegiate High superintendent Donna Walker said of the charter school’s grown-up expectations of its students.

Read Full Article

This story was reported by: Rachel Christianson on DFWReporting.com

Dallas Cityscapes exhibit ends this weekend [HD] from DFW Reporting on Vimeo.

Inside NorthPark Center the Dallas Cityscapes Exhibit is a place to beat the heat and checkout the kid-sized structures of the Dallas skyline. “There’s the Reunion Tower and tons more,” said Dallas Cityscapes staff member Lindsey Weems.

It’s also for a good cause. All the proceeds benefit East Dallas Community Schools. “We are so excited because this comes at a perfect time for us,” said Executive Director and Founder of East Dallas Community Schools Terry Ford.

East Dallas Community Schools has a 30 year track record of success in educating inner city kids. “We have a ninety four percent graduation rate with eighty eight percent of those kids going on to college,” said Ford. All exhibit proceeds will be put towards summer school, tutoring and funds to open a third school.

“It’s family based,” School Director of East Dallas Community Schools Maria Quiroga. “It’s community based. You have to make lengths with families. You have to educate the parents and they’re willing. They’re willing to work with us and we’re willing to work with them.”

Admission to the exhibit is five dollars for adults and three dollars for children give visitors access to all the sculptures and even a chance to build their own. “There’s a kids construction zone as well and after you’ve looked around the exhibit everybody’s welcome to build whatever they want in the construction zone,” said Weems.

Each sculpture took Master Brick Builder Kurt Zimmerle about three months to build. Next year the exhibit is expected to be even bigger. “They’re going to have a mobile creation moving around,” said Weems. “It’s just going to get better from here on out.”

This years exhibit ends August first. Take a look at the video in HD about East Dallas Community Schools produced by DFW Reporting! VIDEO