Editor Staff – Page 3 – The Other Side Dallas

January 3, 2022January 3, 2022

Masks Stay In Dallas ISD

Mandatory masks stay in Dallas ISD after a Sunday night email to parents.

Dallas County like much of America is in a coronavirus Hot Zone as the Omicron variant is causing a rapid rise in COVID infections. Beyond Dallas ISD it is unclear on what steps state or federal government can take in light of the pandemic.

Masks Stay Thru Spring Break – At Least

The full statement to Dallas Schools’ parents is here:

Dallas ISD Parents,

Happy New Year. As we prepare for classes to resume this week, we continue to monitor COVID19 data and prepare for a safe return. Dallas County recently returned to level Red as the new Omicron variant has proven to be more easily transmitted than previous strains. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) anticipates the number of positive cases will increase over the next few weeks.

Dallas ISD’s mask requirement, along with other safety measures, has helped keep the number of positive cases down across the district. As staff return to work and classes resume, adhering to the mask protocol will be critical to controlling the spread and keeping students in classrooms. We will continue our mask and quarantine protocols and reassess at spring break. In-person classes will resume Wednesday January 5, as scheduled.

We remain committed to following established safety measures:

requiring masks
encouraging vaccinations
practicing social distancing
continuing cleaning and hygiene efforts, and
frequent testing.

Campus nurses will be available to test campus staff and students. We will also have a central testing site at the William H. Cotton Service Center, 3701 S. Lamar, from 8AM – 1PM on Monday, January 3 and Tuesday, January 4.

Those who have been fully vaccinated and are deemed a close contact will not be required to quarantine if they are not displaying symptoms. As always, anyone who displays symptoms of COVID19 should stay home and contact their health care provider.

The safety and well-being of our students and staff continues to be our top priority. Thank you for your support and commitment to helping keep everyone safe.

Mask Debate Continues

The ongoing discussion of masks in schools will likely continue a debate about students wearing masks beyond just NextDoor groups.

Most notably a group of upper middle class white individuals have been pushing back against the mask mandate at Dealey Montessori. The protests were pushed by Lauren Davis who has worn masks regularly in public spaces. They also come despite President Trump stating he has taken both the vaccine and booster leading some of the Alex Jones style sycophants to describe him as a “sell out.”

December 27, 2021December 30, 2021

Garland Shooting Day After Christmas

A Texaco was the site of a Garland shooting yesterday where four were shot and three killed by what appears to be a teenage gunman.

Garland police released a video of the teen opening fire inside the Texaco station on Walnut Lane in Garland Sunday evening.

Garland Shooting Details

Police said the teenage male got out of the passenger side of a pickup truck and walked up to the front door. Police say he fired at least twenty times into the store before returning to the truck and leaving.

The victims were teenagers between fourteen and seventeen years of age.

Police said two of the victims came to the store together. The Dallas County Medical Examiner identified them as 15-year-old Ivan Noyola and 17-year-old Rafael Garcia.

Chief Bryan said investigators still trying to determine if this was a targeted attack.

“It’s difficult for me, for my officers and for my community because we want to know why we don’t have an answer to why we’re trying to comprehend this, and we don’t yet comprehend this. But we have a job to do,” he told members of the media.

The youngest victim was fourteen year old Xavier Gonzales who was ordering tacos for his family when the shooting happened.

The shooting comes just over a week after a nationwide school shooting “challenge” that went viral on Tik Tok.

December 26, 2021December 26, 2021

Dallas ISD Wants To Educate In Utero

Dallas Independent School District is moving forward with a program to expand pre-kindergarten education from the prenatal period through to toddlers, i.e. educate in utero to eighteen.

The program was previously announced in April 2021, but is gaining traction with recent reports in Dallas Morning News and Fox4 News.

Educate In Utero, But Not After Born?

The initiative, called Start Strong Dallas, is in its early stages.

The school district said most of a child’s brain develops before they turn five years old and children have learning gaps before they arrive to Dallas public school programming in the areas of language and social skills.

Dallas ISD also hopes to develop educational programming for parents, but Dallas ISD’s record on education is poor at best.

In 2020, Dallas ISD Trustees noted students were failing throughout the district in basic areas such as reading and math. At the time a number of suggestions were made to close the gap including extending the school year – which a handful of campuses did – but there was no focus on innovative education and DISD remained with a top down central market style educational system.

Additionally, while there have been numerous examples of financial mismanagement, many Dallas ISD parents and taxpayers are concerned by the district’s handling of basic school management functions.

After Thanksgiving 2021, Dallas ISD Transportation did not have buses running correctly reminding parents of the problems with Dallas County Schools.

Last year, a student enrolled in a dual credit program had teachers who would not communicate with him. More recently there have been examples of poor management where an elementary student had a firearm at school and in another example a student orgy took place in a middle school bathroom.

December 20, 2021December 20, 2021

Trump Gets COVID19 Vaccine Booster

On Sunday at the American Airlines Center, a surprising admission from the former President. President Donald Trump gets COVID19 vaccine booster per his conversation with Bill O’Reilly which surprised many in the crowd leading to a small crowd booing his admission.

Many Republicans have dismissed official healthcare guidance seeking treatments such as hydroxychloriquine or ivermectin despite clear evidence they do not play a positive role in slowing infection rates or hospital admissions for coronavirus.

In the meantime, Omicron rates are skyrocketing across Europe and parts of the United States and health officials are worried again about winter hospital bed availability.

Trump Gets COVID19 Vaccine Booster

It isn’t clear what prompted Trump to get the vaccine booster, but recently Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly was diagnosed with COVID19 just days after telling Congress he doesn’t think masks provide any health benefit in contradiction to Centers for Disease Control guidance.

Last summer, Dallas has been described as a COVID19 “hot zone” due to high infection numbers.

December 4, 2021December 4, 2021

Fire In 1600 Block Of West Illinois Avenue

Dallas Fire Rescue units were dispatched to a 9-1-1 call for a structure fire at a home. The fire in 1600 block of West Illinois Avenue, in Southwest Dallas, was quickly extinguished by responding companies who observed light smoke coming from the one-story residence.

Upon making entry through the back of the home, they were able to find heavy fire in a rear bedroom. Having already deployed handlines, first-in teams initiated a fire attack and quickly extinguished the flames.

Once smoke cleared, responders discovered the burned and deceased body of an unidentified man lying in the bed. Per DFR procedure, notifications were made to law enforcement, as well as the medical examiner, so the scene could be processed, and the official investigation into the victim’s cause of death could ensue.

In July a reported house fire at 400 N Peak revealed a deceased resident also at what police described as a known drug house.

Fire In 1600 Block Of West Illinois Avenue – Single Victim

There were no other injuries reported as a result of the fire.

A dog that was at the home (though uninjured) was taken into custody by Dallas Animal Services.

According to investigators, there are no preliminary indications that the fire was suspicious in nature; however, the cause of the fire will be listed as undetermined until the Medical Examiner has made a final ruling on the victim’s cause of death.

December 3, 2021December 3, 2021

Gun At Marshall Prep Academy

An unsealed letter went home to parents a Chapel Hill Preparatory School was found in possession of a student at their bus stop. The student had a gun At Marshall Prep, but there was “no danger” to students at Chapel Hill Prep. The letter came from Dallas Independent School District’s principal, Zenaida Martinez.

The letter above was circulated on social media and was verified by multiple parents who expressed concern that it was in a “tend home” folder, usually reserved for PTA fundraising literature or class assignment notices.

One parent called it a “casual letter. Normalizing it.” Other Side Dallas has been unable to locate a similar letter to Marsh Preparatory Academy parents and Dallas schools staff does not respond to requests for comment.

Gun At Marshall Prep

The latest incident is one of a growing number. Earlier in the year, multiple reports stated there were individuals on campus at Dealey Montessori with firearms during a COVID9 mask mandate protest.

Prior to that protest the organizer’s business had tweeted out the question which is better the AK47 or M16 in a blog post which seemed unrelated to the men’s salon business and fully related to the school protest.

December 1, 2021December 1, 2021

Coming Soon: Social Justice In South Dallas

A Dallas Independent School District press conference informed the public social justice in South Dallas was coming soon.

Students, staff, and community members gathered on campus for the announcement despite a Dallas ISD prohibition in most schools on visitors.

The new campus is expected to be completed in 2024.

Social Justice In South Dallas Academy Named After John Lewis

“I’m happy to announce that O.W. Holmes will now be the John Lewis Social Justice Academy at O.W. Holmes,” Dallas ISD Trustee Maxie Johnson told those assembled. Johnson is also pastor at New Morning Star Baptist Church.

The school is currently named for Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Supreme Court Justice, who has been the third-most cited American legal scholar of the 20th century.

It is unclear Trustee Johnson’s commitment to social justice though. In the summer, Johnson accused white and Latino parents at Harry Stone of being racist after they raised concerns about school funds being misappropriated. The meeting revealed that staff has been assaulted by a family member of another school employee.

Early in the school year, Johnson also returned to calling parents racist after they expressed concern over hidden COVID19 numbers at Harry Stone that have now risen to fifty total cases out of a student population of approximately three hundred.

There were no protests arranged at Harry Stone Montessori over these numbers, unlike Dealey Montessori in North Dallas – which is predominantly white. Trustee Johnson has yet to return email requests for comment on his actions on any of these topics.

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021

Holiday Over Except For Dallas ISD Transportation

Dallas ISD Transportation is continuing its Thanksgiving holiday with reports of multiple riders missing rides to school this morning, particularly to the Townview Magnet Complex. Riders at the Hillcrest High School location numbered multiple dozen and waited for at least an hour.

It is not clear how many total schools are being affected, but Other Side Dallas has been on hold for forty-five minutes as of this writing.

Dallas Independent School District has generally been credited with a strong turnaround of the transportation system this year after decades of corruption with the Dallas County Schools scandal. Last December, attorney Richard Reynolds was sentenced for his role in that corruption.

Dallas ISD Transportation Contacts

The student transportation call center is staffed from 6:00AM to 6:00PM Monday thru Friday, excluding school holidays. Parents can call either (972) 925-4BUS or (972) 925-4287.

November 4, 2021November 4, 2021

Jenna Ryan Is Going To Jail

Jenna Ryan – the Dallas area realtor who participated in what some call the January 6th insurrection – is going to jail.

The Texas realtor who said she would not be jailed for participating in the 6 January Capitol riots because she is white, is now looking at two months behind bars plus a $1000 fine.

Ryan made headlines when she bragged about taking a private jet to the insurrection and called it “one of the best days of my life.”

In sentencing memors, prosecutors cited her attitude in the tweet below as a key reason for imprisonment.

“A defendant who believes she is immune from strict punishment because of her race and physical appearance may reoffend because the consequences for wrongdoing will never, in the defendant’s mind, be severe even when severity is merited,” the memo states.

“Perhaps the most compelling need for specific deterrence arises from the defendant’s misguided belief that she is above the law, or at least insulated from incarceration.”

Jenna Ryan Impacts Dallas City Council Races

An article on Candace Evans’ Candy’s Dirt noted Ryan’s involvement with the January 6 insurrection was noted as a reason conservatives would not support Candace Evans in the May city council election.

Evans had a clearly superior knowledge on land use and real estate issues in the race.

Instead local groups pushed Barry Wernick who was later criticized as surrounding his campaign with Dallas area QAnon supporters.

November 2, 2021November 2, 2021

Dallas County Gerrymander

A “Dallas County gerrymander” per a court watcher. Dallas County Commissioners’ Court voted to gerrymander JJ Koch out of his seat and then heard comments about the vote afterward. Dr. Elba Garcia called the process “tainted” and was clearly unhappy with both process and result.

Dallas County Gerrymander

The gerrymander does not seem to extend to Constable or Justice of the Peace precincts. The map there was passed as Map A Revised.

Other Side Dallas will update with a finalized Commissioner’s Court map when available.