TALAS E-newsletter – June 3

Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Dr. Charles E. Dupre is a recipient of the 2021 Walter Kase Educator Excellence Award given by the Southwest Regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Dr. Dupre is a strong proponent of the No Place for Hate program and was one of the first superintendents in Region IV to promote its implementation in all District schools. No Place for Hate, one of the ADL’s signature K-12 programs, builds a culture of respect and encourages diversity in schools.

The La Joya school board approved a one-year contract extension for Superintendent Gisela Saenz on Wednesday.

Trustees approved the contract extension Wednesday night after more than two hours in executive session.

“I just look forward to continuing to work with our students and our district,” Saenz said. “And continue to accomplish the vision and the goals that our board has set for La Joya ISD.”

Dallas ISD has named Ruby Ramirez, principal at the School for the Talented and Gifted at Pleasant Grove, as one of its three principals of the year. Ramirez formerly worked as an assistant principal in Oak Cliff.

The honor is awarded at three levels: elementary, secondary and choice/magnet nominees. Of this year’s 21 nominees, eight oversee schools in Oak Cliff. Winnetka Elementary’s Lourdes Garduño was one of seven finalists.

Houston mother Lisa Stanton says every parent’s instinct is to keep their children safe.

When she and her young daughter, Maya, earlier this year traveled to the Texas Capitol to testify against two bills restricting transgender children’s access to transition-related medical care, including hormone therapy and puberty suppression treatment, she worried for her daughter’s well-being — both physical and mental.

There isn’t an exact moment that Senate Bill 7 officially died. But sometime close to the eleventh hour of Sunday, not long before a midnight deadline that would decapitate dozens of bills, the Texas House lost its quorum, sealing the fate of controversial legislation restricting the vote. Enough Democrats—62 of the 67 in the caucus—had left the chamber to deny the Republican-controlled Legislature the ability to pass one of the top priorities of its leaders. Some were hanging out in Austin representative Eddie Rodriguez’s office, a prime spot on the fourth floor, just under the Capitol dome. Others quietly shuffled through the labyrinth of underground hallways that stretch north beneath the grounds of the Texas Capitol. Others had taken the keys to their voting machines and disappeared into the night, not to be seen until morning. One member from Dallas went to Amy’s Ice Creams, in the Arboretum, treating himself to a coffee-flavored ice cream mixed with crushed Heath bars.

You’ve been waiting to hear back from a potential employer, and it finally happened — you’ve been invited to an interview.

Congratulations!

You might be wondering now how to respond in a way that increases your chances of landing this job. A well-written interview confirmation email is a great first step to demonstrate your professional communication skills in action.

Even before the interview, you can set yourself up for success with a well-thought-out approach to your interview confirmation. Look below for tips on how and when to write an interview confirmation email, along with some helpful samples.

Juliana Urtubey, a bilingual special education teacher in Las Vegas, received widespread attention last month after she was named the National Teacher of the Year — becoming the first teacher from Nevada and the first Latina in at least the last 16 years to receive the award.

Having immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia at age five and being an English and Spanish speaker, Urtubey says her personal background helps her connect with her Kermit Booker Elementary School students, many of whom are learning English as a second language and come from immigrant households, as well.

Each school day, the students of the John Jay Educational Campus line up outside their squat, brick-lined Brooklyn building and make their way through a metal detector on the way to class at one of the four floors inside.

Isa Grumbach-Bloom heads up to the third floor for classes at Millennium Brooklyn High School. Hajar Bouchour has been learning remotely for a year now, but when she is on campus, she keeps walking, up to the fourth floor, the site of Park Slope Collegiate.

Despite sharing a roof, students’ learning experiences inside can look very different. Millennium has been rated “excellent” in almost every metric set by the city, making it one of the top schools in the borough. Park Slope, on the other hand, mostly garners “good” ratings and occasionally just “fair” for some metrics.

School districts across the country are planning a full return to face-to-face instruction next year, a major milestone that reflects a rosier coronavirus picture. But some districts—and entire states—are going a step further, eliminating remote learning altogether, or severely restricting its use.

Those decisions worry many advocates and experts. They fear that schools are squandering a chance to harness technology to make school work better for students and families. And they think schools are being shortsighted; without a robust remote option, they will be ill-prepared to respond if COVID-19 levels spike again.

Children of Latino immigrants who take on adult responsibilities exhibit higher levels of political activity compared with those who do not, according to University of Georgia researcher Roberto Carlos.

Immigrant communities often display low levels of political engagement, but a new study by Carlos indicates that when children of Latin immigrants take on adult roles because of parents’ long work hours, immigrant status or language deficiencies, they develop noncognitive skills associated with higher rates of political participation.

The controversial “Remain in Mexico” policy, formally known as the Migration Protection Protocols, has officially ended.

After a monthslong review in his office, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas sent a memo to agency heads on Tuesday, June 1, announcing that the policy is now rescinded.

PBS recently presented The Latino Experience, a new, three-part anthology series of short fiction and non-fiction films as part of its commitment to support and present diverse content created by a wide range of storytellers.

From dramas and documentaries to comedies and magical realism, the anthology features an exciting lineup of creative talent, both in front of and behind the camera.