The Dallas school district wants every senior back in class, every day, for in-person learning, till the end of the year 鈥� beginning Monday. Too many kids have been missing out on instruction.
With just nine weeks of school left in Dallas, the district鈥檚 Deputy Chief of School Leadership, Mark Ramirez, fears if nothing changes, too many kids won鈥檛 graduate. He said in the pandemic, many seniors suffered by learning online. The district says one out of every five high schoolers stopped attending class. Ramirez wants them back, learning face-to-face.
鈥淲e know it鈥檚 going to be a challenge,鈥� Ramirez said, 鈥渂ecause they鈥檝e been out of school a year and a half. And that鈥檚 why we want them back 鈥� to try to get that (graduation) number as close to where we were in the past, which is getting close to 88% from the district.鈥�
Dallas ISD鈥檚 Lincoln High School inspired the plan. Lincoln asked its collegiate high seniors to come back last month, and the school says 80% of them did, including Kevin Estell, Jr.
鈥淭he atmosphere, you know we鈥檙e around all our other peers. And so we just help each other with our classwork. After classwork, we have our fun, we talk, we just lift each others鈥� sprits. When you鈥檙e alone, you don鈥檛 have anyone to give that push to do your work,鈥� Estell said.
Lincoln鈥檚 principal, Johnna Weaver, says highlighting the fun part was key.
鈥淎t the end of the day, I want them to be excited about coming to school, and we have a lot of fun doing it. I think that鈥檚 been a big win for us. And the other kids are hearing about it, and they say 鈥榳hat y鈥檃ll doing?鈥� And the kids say, 鈥榳e鈥檙e having fun.鈥� That鈥檚 what's selling it,鈥� Weaver said.
And more fun is in the works for Lincoln seniors. They'll head to Six Flags for a day 鈥� to celebrate the end of high school together.
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on Twitter .
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