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Texas News
Ralls ISD names Oscar Muniz as superintendent
Mr. Muniz has been a Superintendent at McLean ISD since 2016. He has also served as a Principal at Coolidge ISD and Sterling City ISD from 2010-2016. Mr. Muniz started his career as a teacher/coach/Athletic Director in 1990 until 2010. Mr. Muniz received his Bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University in 1988 and his Master’s degree from Sul Ross State University in 2010. Mr. Muniz has a total of 32 years in education, including 6 years as a Superintendent. Oscar and his wife, Michelle-an educator as well, have three sons (Devin, 27-teacher/coach, Cade, 19 and Eli, 17). Oscar and his family are looking forward to making Ralls their new home.
Channelview ISD Welcomes New Deputy Superintendent
Channelview ISD district leaders have selected Dr. Franklin Cahuasqui as the CISD Deputy Superintendent.

Dr. Cahuasqui has been an educator for 15 years and has served the Houston ISD community as a fifth-grade bilingual teacher, assistant principal, principal, and most recently as a school support officer. Since 2018, he has served as a principal supervisor, working with principals from all school levels- early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school. One of his proudest accomplishments as a school support officer was working collaboratively with high school principals in implementing college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) tracking systems that lead to an increase in industry-based certifications and a 10+ point CCMR increase at three comprehensive high schools.
Ballet Folklórico programs at Greiner and Sunset are among best in North Texas
For over a decade, every student who is part of the distinguished dance programs at W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy and Sunset High School has learned the traditional dances of Mexico, among other cultural dance styles.

And earlier this year, after a first-of-its-kind regional dance tournament, both of these neighborhood schools in the heart of North Oak Cliff were deemed to have top-tier Ballet Folklórico programs.
Gov. Abbott wants to ban unauthorized immigrants from Texas schools
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to try to reinstate a 1975 Texas law withholding state funds from school districts for kids who were not “legally admitted” into the United States.

In an interview Wednesday on the Joe Pags radio show, Abbott said he would “ressurect” a legal challenge over the law, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 1982.

“The challenges put on our public systems is extraordinary,” Abbott said, before referencing Plyler v. Doe, the ruling that overturned the Texas law. “I think that we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different than when Plyler v. Doe was issued many years ago.”
Austin becomes first Texas city to test a taxpayer-funded “guaranteed income” program
Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried out some form of “guaranteed income” — financial assistance targeted at needy households.

Austin will be the first major Texas city to use local tax dollars to give cash to low-income families to keep them housed as the cost of living skyrockets in the capital city.

Under a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin City Council vote Thursday, the city will send monthly checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households at risk of losing their homes — an attempt to insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and prevent more people from becoming homeless.
Upcoming Events
Save the Date!
Save the date for the TALAS Summer Conference 2022:

Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Kalahari Resort
Round Rock, TX

Stay tuned for continued updates on this exciting event.
Virtual Lunch & Learn:
Meeting the Challenge of Summer Learning
May 18, 2022, 11 a.m.
Join Newsela at this virtual lunch and learn where we’ll discuss the top 3 challenges that Texas districts and schools tell us they face with summer learning. You’ll see real-life examples of how Texas educators are using Newsela to address each of these challenges. You’ll also learn about Newsela resources that can be used not only for summer learning, but also to address HB4545 accelerated learning needs.

Enjoy lunch courtesy of Newsela and leave with valuable information to support you over the summer and beyond.

Register now and we’ll send you a $25 e-gift card to purchase lunch at your favorite spot:
TAMACC Women of Distinction Awards:
Texas Women Making a Difference
Nomination deadline extended to May 11, 2022
With respect to the Cinco de Mayo events and Mother’s Day, the deadline for the Women of Distinction nominations has been extended. The nomination packets must be mailed and received in the TAMACC office no later than Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

Please be sure to share with the exceptional women
in your network.
Looking for a new opportunity?
Leadership opportunities available:
Take a look at who’s hiring:
National News
Half of States Set to Ban Abortion Have No Sex Ed Requirements
Should the Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade, 26 states are set to ban abortion, according to a 2021 analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonpartisan reproductive health research group. 

Exactly half have no mandate that schools teach sex education, data from the Institute reveals, and only four of the 26 require curricula to cover the topic of contraception. Twenty-three allow districts to skip over consent entirely.
First-Ever Study of Mexican-American School Desegregation Finds Marked Gains for Chicano Students
The first major judiciary win for K-12 school integration in the U.S. did not come in 1954 as the common narrative goes, but in 1947. Nearly a decade before the landmark Brown v. Board case, a federal District Court judge in Orange County, California ruled in Mendez v. Westminster that it was illegal to separate Mexican and non-Hispanic white learners into segregated schools. 

But until recently, it remained unclear what impact the decision had on California’s Chicano students.
Bans on Affirmative Action Led to Fewer Black, Hispanic Doctors
State bans on affirmative action have prompted a precipitous decline in the number of U.S. medical students from racial/ethnic minority groups, a new study finds.

“We know that a more diverse physician workforce leads to better care for racial- and ethnic-minority patients,” said lead researcher Dr. Dan Ly, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But we have made such poor progress in diversifying our physician workforce.”
Is recess a right or a privilege?
Despite evidence they shouldn’t, teachers still take away recess. Experts say it’s time to stop.

In Florida, kids in a second grade class were told to walk laps during recess after no one confessed to taking money from a classmate. In Kentucky, a first grader who hadn’t been paying attention in class had to sit on a bench next to his teacher and watch his friends play. In Texas, after a few students misbehaved, an entire first grade class had to sit inside silently for recess.
How can educators use music to expand engagement in subjects across curricula?
English teacher Lakisha Odlum likes to play music, including John Coltrane, to “set the tone in the classroom,” she said. This might happen when students are working on projects or when they’re holding their annual poetry cafe. 

She finds the lyrics can provide a gateway to poetry lessons, helping to make the prose more accessible in her classroom at The Young Women’s Leadership School of Queens in New York. Linking music to curriculum works because students are often already listening to music when not in the classroom and view it as something relaxing — not rigorous, Odlum said.
Las Tienditas
This Week’s Featured Sponsor
TALAS sponsors make this newsletter and other TALAS activities possible. Please support them. Click on the logo to learn more!
Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation’s leading providers of richly animated, game-like educational technology. Winner of several national educational technology awards, the Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation’s innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves over 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries.