Author: Team OSD

Dallas Independent School District mandates clear backpacks for students in sixth grade up for the 2022-2023 school year.

“Clear bookbags are a well intended but relatively ineffective measure,” said Michael Dorn. Dorn is a former police officer and Executive Director of Safe Haven International.

The group is the world’s largest K-12 school safety center. The group produced the video below showing the ease of moving weapons into a school.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas schools trialed a clear backpack policy. They abandoned the policy shortly. It became clear to school administrators that contraband was still coming into schools.

Parents at several high schools told Other Side Dallas that metal detectors are not used. The devices are time limiting and staff does not focus on them.

“They are a physical deterence, but only when they are actually used,” one parent said.

DISD Mandates Clear Backpacks – Unclear Reason

Dallas ISD has not released the results of its parent survey on clear backpacks. They did say they will issue a single backpack to students.

If it becomes damaged or otherwise unusable the student will supply a replacement. It is unclear how many students this will effect given district socioeconomic challenges.

It is not clear how this poplicy will stop incidents like last year’s.

In December 2021, parents were notified of an elementary student with a firearm on a bus. At the time, parents said the note normalized the situation.

There were also multiple protests at Dealey Montessori with at least two events where adults were armed on campus.

NGAN hosts Stephanioe Elizalde – the new Dallas Independent School District Superintendent – in her first public appearance.

The Next Generation Activist Network – or NGAN – for short hosted the event which was the first welcome reception for newly appointed superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde.

The Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) self describes as one of North Texas’s largest social justice organizations, with several chapters nationwide. With a mission of lobbying for social change and equality for all regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender, sex, or age, the Next Generation Action Network focuses on legal advocacy and education. Daily NGAN bridges and fills individual and community needs as a catalyst for impactful change.

They claim to focus on education, but in the host committee graphic above it is clear they do not do their own editing. One person is listed twice and a member of the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees had his name misspelled.

Early Super Mistake? NGAN Hosts Stephanie Elizalde

A giant question is was this a good move for Stephanie Elizalde.

It is unclear why Elizalde feels NGAN serves the needs of minority students whose test scores reveal abysmal results by her predecessor’s administration.

NGAN’s focal point – the “CEO Minister” Dominique Alexander – is alleged to be in a relationship with former Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall.

Once this allegation was public, confirmed by four separate police and civilian sources at Dallas Police, Hall left office within twenty-four hours.

Additionally, Alexander was convicted of shaking a 2-year-old baby in 2011. He was sentenced to five years but released on probation shortly after his sentencing. Alexander has also been convicted of theft, making a false police report and evading arrest. He’s also been indicted in Denton County for felony theft.

Alexander was also involved in questions about contract awards after the Dallas ISD Auditor Report in 2020.