Editor Staff – Page 6 – The Other Side Dallas

July 29, 2021July 29, 2021

DISD Welcome Back 2021

DISD Welcome Back 2021 will happen Saturday, August 7, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, located at 1201 E. Eighth Street at their We’re Ready Back to School Enrollment Fair.

Dallas Independent School District says it is ready for in-person instruction and to serve our families in a safe learning environment. Thousands of cases of COVID19 did hit staff and students across DISD last school year, including the Townview Magnet campus.

COVID19 numbers were manageable when school started in October 2020, but quickly shot up. Last year Dallas was considered a COVID19 medical hot zone and despite recent CDC guidance that all school staff and students should mask up regardless of vaccination status, Governor Abbott has denied localities the ability to mandate masks.

DISD Welcome Back 2021 Details

As DISD welcomes back staff and students, it is important to remember several standards that will be in place.

Currently, Dallas ISD will be back to in-person learning, districtwide, with the exception of hybird learners at the Dallas Hybrid Preparatory at Stephen J. Hay.

Additionally, the ISD will keep the nine-week grading periods this school year 2021-2022, the same as last. It is not clear if this will promote better learning or not.

Finally, there are three different school calendars which are campus specific. The base calendar is below.

Dallas ISD Calendar - DISD Welcome Back 2021

There are three different Dallas ISD 2021-2022 school year calendars.

A large majority of school campuses will have the base calendar. Forty-one schools will have an Intersession calendar, and five schools will have a School Day Redesign Calendar.

The alternative calendars are one part of a comprehensive effort the district is taking to help ensure the pandemic doesn’t have a long-lasting negative impact on student learning.

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021

Dallas Love Field Security Breach

There was a Dallas Love Field security breach Sunday night causing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) guards and Dallas Police to apprehend a man for criminal trespass.

Per eyewitnesses and social media accounts, Dallas Love Field airport was “on lockdown” after an individual ran through a TSA checkpoint.

Dallas Love Field Airport confirmed that an individual did breach the TSA checkpoint. It led to a brief halt of passenger screening, but “there was no impact to flight operations.”

Dallas Love Field Security Breach Adds To Unruly Passenger Wave

According to FAA data, there have been more than 3500 unruly passenger incidents in 2021 as of July 20, 2021.

Passengers at Dallas Love Field posted to Twitter said that the waits were far longer than the fifteen minutes the airport claimed.

This is the second incident at Love Field in just over a week. The first was the arrival of a passenger from Nigeria with monkeypox – a rare condition similar to smallpox.

July 20, 2021July 21, 2021

Pox Panic

A pox panic is taking place across the United States as more than two hundred contacts occurred between the Dallas monkeypox case last week and those who came within six feet of the initial patient.

In addition to its recent focus on COVID19, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring two hundred cases across twenty-seven states. The Texas individual who contracted the disease in Nigeria before traveling to Dallas by way of Atlanta on July 8 – 9, 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that so far, no additional cases of the disease have been detected among those being monitored, but there is the possibility contact cases have happened unknown to CDC investigators.

State and local health officials are working with the CDC to follow up with known contacts of the Dallas infected patient, Patient Zero.

Pox Panic Started Friday

The case of monkeypox is the first confirmed case of the disease in the United States in two decades.

Monkeypox is a rare, infectious disease that can cause widespread rashes, fever, headaches, and muscle aches in people who contract it.

Other signs and symptoms include:

Fever
Headache
Muscle aches
Backache
Swollen lymph nodes
Chills
Exhaustion

According to WHO, the monkeypox virus has similar features to the more dangerous human smallpox. The primary difference between in symptoms between smallpox and monkeypox is monkeypox will cause lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy). Smallpox does not have cause lymphadenopathy.

There are two types of monkeypox viruses – the more contagious and harsher version from Central Africa and the other from West Africa.

July 16, 2021July 17, 2021

US News: Dallas Down To 37

Dallas Down To 37 in Best Cities To Live per US News and World Report, falling out of the Top 25.

The US News reports says “the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area has an interesting mix of Texas pride and cosmopolitan offerings,” but dropping out of the Top 25 Best Cities must hurt that pride more than a little.

It is not clear how much city council and city hall dysfunction played into the rankings.

Dallas Down To 37 As City…And Texas Is In Wrong Top 10

According to a study conducted by CNBC, the “Great State of Texas” isn’t. Per their study Texas is second on the list of America’s worst places to live in 2021.

The study found that Texas’ weaknesses include inclusiveness, health, voting rights, and public health funding.

CNBC’s review said, “For all its strength as a place to do business, Texas keeps trying to outdo itself when it comes to laws and policies that are seen as exclusionary.”

The city itself isn’t the only thing falling. Locally, schools have been dropping from previous number one national positions.

July 13, 2021March 22, 2022

Texas Rangers RBI For Underserved Or Prep Select?

Is the Texas Rangers RBI program for the underserved or just another prep select program is a question some are asking.

This weekend during All Star play at the West Dallas complex one team mate seemed to have a leg up as his mother is the Vice President for the Texas Rangers Foundation and a local select baseball player.

The Returning Baseball to Inner (RBI) Cities program is supposed to help increase minority participation in baseball, but it appears it is being used to defray costs for wealthy families connected to the team.

Jackson Morris is playing for the Texas Cannons baseball club in addition to his time with the Texas Rangers RBI program which provides him free equipment.

It is unclear if this counts against IRS rules for public charities to provide personal benefits, but neither the Texas Rangers nor the Texas Rangers Foundation would return phone calls requesting comment about the program.

Texas Rangers RBI Program

The program itself has not had much success getting out of the RBI playoffs and some blame the program’s director Juan Garciga for building a group of coaches who can neither teach well or push their players beyond natural talent.

The program was also hit recently by allegations one of their coaches was being investigated for masturbating to a young girl.

July 10, 2021July 10, 2021

Voting Rights Hearings

Two voting rights hearings are taking place later today in Austin, Texas in legislative hearings on Senate Bill 1 (SB1) and House Bill 3 (HB3) during the Texas legislature’s Special Session.

HB3 will be heard starting at 8AM in Capital Room E1.030. The Senate bill being heard today will start in committee at 11AM in Capital Room E1.004.

It is unclear in what order committees will take up legislation so activists expect a long day of hearings.

The state legislature is taking up legislative funding, voter fraud, but general political corruption seems to be missing despite the recent federal conviction of Ruel Hamilton.

Voting Rights Hearings Open To Public Comment

Persons wishing to speak on either bill in person can do so through this link. You may only register from a personal device if you are connected to the Capitol Public WiFi inside the Capitol, Capitol extension or John H. Reagan Building.

The state house of representatives allows speakers to submit comments electronically. Comments for or against the legislation can be submitted here.

The state senate does not allow online comments.

July 7, 2021July 6, 2021

Faithful Fallen Five Year Memorial

The Dallas Police Department will hold services honoring the Faithful Fallen – the officers who lost their lives on July 7, 2016 – while performing their duties.

The City of Dallas is says everyone is encouraged to join the ceremony on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at 10:00AM.

A March to the Memorial will start at 10:00AM at Griffin at Young Street and continue to the memorial location, 500 South Akard Street.

The memorial is expected to include several members of Dallas City Council who just thirteen months ago were proposing to defund DPD.

District 4 Council Member Carolyn King Arnold expressed her “heartfelt sentiments for the commitment of all law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty” and sends her condolences to the families of these brave officers.

Faithful Fallen Assailant

Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed a group of Dallas Police Department officers shooting and killing five officers and injuring nine others. Two civilians were also wounded. Johnson was also an Army Reservist who served in Afghanistan.

Johnson was “loosely affiliated” with several groups including South Dallas’ Muhammad Mosque No. 48, which is run by members of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and ADL label the organization as an anti-Semitic hate group.

July 5, 2021July 5, 2021

House Fire: 400 N Peak

A house fire occurred last night at 400 N Peak, Dallas, leading to the rescue of a woman from an upstairs bedroom and per an unofficial Dallas Fire Twitter account a criminal investigation.

400 N Peak – Not Only July 4 News

While City of Dallas officials promised more aggressive fireworks enforcement, it looks like that plan was just a draft.

We are waiting on details of how many citations were issued and fireworks conficscated after watching events like the above in South Oak Cliff last night.

June 30, 2021June 29, 2021

Harry Stone Update

A quick Harry Stone update from the news yesterday that a teacher is reported to have been assaulted on campus by the child of another district employee. A post about the topic in a Harry Stone Montessori Facebook group says Tes Blackburn was not contacted.

This information came via a post by her husband Lew Blackburn Jr.

However, his wife seems to not check her email.

We understand that not everyone wants to answer questions about incidents and issues in areas they have oversight, but we are developing information on a series of incidents at Harry Stone Montessori going back a decade.

Other Harry Stone Update Information

Lew Blackburn Jr. also states he is an alumni of Skyline High School, not Townview. A former parent had told us they thought he was connected to Townview, but we will take Lew Blackburn Jr’s word for it. Apparently we got the spelling of his wife’s name incorrect also.

We are disappointed though that he has been removing content from the Facebook group repeatedly rather than deal with the underlying issues.

June 23, 2021June 29, 2021

Clean The Block

Clean The Block Initiative is an outreach program that tackles the disproportionate environmental effect on lower income communities.

The main objective is to clean up loose trash/litter, fight illegal dumping, educate community members on urban environmentalism, and reverse the effects of environmental racism that historically effects socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods.

Clean The Block Initiative

The iniative was started by Calvin Johnson, former candidate for D7 City Council in Dallas, and Brian Hesson. That race which attracted endorsements from numerous elected officials and participation by groups such as Keep Dallas Safe.

The area’s socioeconomic status, climate change and increased pollution has had a negative effect on the health, cognitive development, education, economic status, and overall pride in the community in the area. CBI plans to combat several environmental issues that plague local Dallas communities.