Tuesday, the Duncanville Independent School District welcomed more than 12,000 students back to the classroom for the 2024-2025 school year. The district also started the semester with a new superintendent and a brand new fleet of buses.
Just before the 7:30 a.m. bell, Superintendent Dr. T. Lamar Goree greeted students at Duncanville High School as they made their way through a red carpet with décor into class.
"It feels crazy. It's almost unreal. It feels good, though. I'm really excited and looking forward to it all," said Preston Lee, a Duncanville High School senior and senior class president.
"I'm so excited about the opportunity to lead. More importantly, I'm excited about the opportunity to lead with impact," said Goree, who explained the district's mission this year is to "Lead with Impact."
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"As we look at this year and we think about what it means to truly be a city of champions we're so proud of all of our athletic accomplishments. We're proud of our fine arts accomplishments but we look at creating that same level of championship experience in every classroom, in that respect we will focus on doing everything we can to improve our academic programs to ensure every student leaves our school system as a champion," said Goree.
Duncanville is well known for its phenomenal athletic program. Last year, it won back-to-back state football championships, back-to-back girls' state track championships, and girls' state basketball championships. The superintendent said they want to keep the legacy going, along with academics.
"It's our responsibility to educate whole children, and when we talk about educating children, that's talking about educating them from the social-emotional space, that's, of course, educating them from the academic space, but also providing them every opportunity to participate in things such as athletics and fine arts," said Goree.
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New Busses
The district rolled out 15 new buses for the first day of school. The new fleet is equipped with air-conditioning seatbelts and seats for up to 77 passengers, according to the district.
The Duncanville ISD was able to purchase the new wheels because of a 2023 bond package. The district's transportation department received more than $7 million to replace older buses, some of which were over 16 years old.
The updated buses have a digital video system with six cameras, allowing drivers to see students in their seats. The cameras also record what's happening on the open road, so if a crash happens, the video can be used to verify what happened.
The bus is also GPS-enabled, allowing parents to track their students.
The district serves the city of Duncanville and also multiple communities including parts of Dallas, DeSoto, and Cedar Hill. Goree said one of his main objectives is to focus on the district's finances.
This year, Duncanville ISD has adopted an $18 million deficit and I'm just so fortunate that we do have a healthy fund balance so that we can do that, but our conversation now has to go to how we make sure that we're wonderful stewards of the taxpayer dollars that they provide us to education the children," said Goree. "Now from that aspect, we have to make sure we keep the main thing the main thing, and that's providing a high-quality education for our children. We now have to evaluate everything that we do in the school system to determine what are those things and ways we can be more responsible but at the same time, we have to make sure we stay focused on providing education. I tell people all the time, that in education you just don't start cutting things, you have to first evaluate to determine what are those things that bring the greatest value and that protect children."
School Safety
Mitchell Lambert, Duncanville ISD police chief, said he was excited for the first school day.
"I want everybody to have a fun first day. I know that I remember my first day in school," said Lambert.
Lambert said in addition to an officer on each campus they are waiting for the arrival of new technology that will help screen people as they enter the building. Lambert said they have 32 members on the force and enough staff to ensure every campus is covered.
Last year, it became a state law to ensure there is a safety officer at each campus.
He said as they focus on keeping students safe, he wants to be sure kids have an enjoyable time at school.
"We want every student to come and enjoy being a kid, enjoy being a juvenile, enjoy being a student, have that student experience as they take the next step in life," said Lambert.
