Walking on newly shined tile floors, there were cheers and high fives. The welcome-backs weren't for students but for Dallas ISD principals.
Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde spearheads these welcome backs often revealing new curriculum, data, and big plans. She sat on the sidelines this time with no voice, but her staff told teachers the big plan is to just keep at it.
"We're going to keep it simple, we're not breaking out some major tools, or software, or some consultant to come and give us some magic key to get to the targets the state has set for us, we're not doing that," said Dallas ISD Chief of School Leadership, Tiffany Huitt.
Solar Prep for Girls Principal Olivia Santos told us they spent the past few weeks reviewing test scores and looking for areas of concern.
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"Our reading scores were amazing this last year. So now we're just trying to get that math and science bolstered up," Santos said.
Santos is also concerned with politics. Governor Abbott has refused to increase funding for Texas schools until vouchers are passed and Santos says you can feel the pinch in the classroom.
"We're moving into a school year, where we've all had to make pretty significant budget cuts and thinking through how that impacts the people that show up in front of kids every day," she added.
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Joe Pouncy is starting his second year as principal of Skyline High School.
"At Skyline, we need to focus on math, it's a huge, huge thing," he said.
This past year, NBC 5 was in the classroom, as they tried new techniques to help kids grasp math concepts.
"I think the thing that we want to focus on is good first-run instruction. There's no substitute for reading, writing, good arithmetic, and giving people the time and teachers the autonomy for teaching it the way that students get it," said Pouncy.
She was unable to speak today, but we talked to Superintendent Elizalde a couple of weeks ago about the new curriculum she implemented this past school year.
"It was a heavy lift to get everybody there in one year. And people said, it couldn't be done but our teachers prove it can be done. And now, you should see the number of folks that are coming to professional development, and it's no longer like, 'Oh, I have to get used to this new resource.' It's let me dive into this new resource," Elizalde said.
