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School was planned to be closed, got into politics because of it. Feels very passionately about these issues and does what she thinks is right at Capitol for kids and schools

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Here because she has worked in a vertical team and a lot of decisions made in AISD are decisions that teachers and families are not always a part of. This year there are a lot of things that are "non-negotiables" but there was never any input on those. Wants to make sure Barbara Jordan School gets a seat at the table in these conversations that impact kids and teachers

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Has a big huge heart for AISD and want to work together with his community to make sure we have the best district in the whole state/universe.

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Trustee of AISD, former AISD student. When she came through the district she was bussed, did not aspire to be a trustee but her perspective was needed on the board. She isn't just fighting for her children, but her whole district, the students and the educators

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Running for trustee, mom in AISD and kids have had an amazing experience, want to bring it to the whole district

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Teacher and product of AISD, education is something she's passioante about. It is a great equalizer but instead of just changing policies we need to change it from the ground up. Has worked with immigrant communities, there are a lot of equity issues in AISD excited

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Here to learn more and the theme is abolishing racist systems and has begun to think about it a lot more and how she can use her privilege for good. Collective capacity, we can improve communication at all levels

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Disillusioned: came in at 23, took job very seriously and assumed all the adults and systems were coming from the same place. Was an ELL as a student. Realized that it was not what was driving the decisions being made, it was more data and numbers-based, cold economic decisions for resources. If things are not done in a particular way it is not appreciated. Started doing her own thing. Working within a system she doesn't believe in, knows how to work within the game now, but what we measure (standardized testing) has no value.

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This question is almost never asked, which is telling because it is not valued in the profession. We draw a lot of strength from our fellow community of educators. Having time to reflect and problem-solve with other educators is key.

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Mindfulness: something that AISD has started to incorporate. The VIDA clinic. Groups like EIS and other affinity groups. Advocating helps, 18 months ago was not in a good spot because of school closures plan, but speaking up and out about issues is an outlet that helps. Next legislative session: on the issue of standardized testing can't be reformed and the disparate impact it has on black and brown students. We need to de-emphasize the test and defund it. The other one is around Superintendent searches: they are allowed to be done around closed doors using taxpayer money, need stronger sunshine laws around these searches. Would like to see all elected officials speak out against school closures

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Family supports her in getting through tough days and celebrating the happy days

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We prioritize STAAR as a summative test, in AISD we give MOYS benchmark tests but in years past they have made these tests be full STAAR tests despite the fact that no teacher could ever have taught everything at that point. Benchmarks don't need to be that long and that scary. Re: the passages on tests, don't need to do multiple genres twice it could be shorter. Shift the length of test while still measuring what kids know

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Re: seeing kids having stuff taken away for test prep, it adds more anxiety and stress no matter how fun a teacher tries to make it. By the time the STARR comes around they have a mindset of "this is hard for me, I've already failed" and it doubles down on their insecurities. Need to increase communication with bilingual learning department

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One of the things that would definitely make an impact: some of you would be surprised how the STAAR and testing has seeped into every little crevice of Title I schools. When she started teaching 16 years ago, gained some really important knowledge about balanced literacy and using authentic tests, our newer teachers lack some of that knowledge and practices because they've been taught to teach to the test. If the test was taken away for them, wouldn't know what to do or how to teach (saw this when COVID disrupted everything in spring). Can't have an authentic time because there's not enough time to validate/grade

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Restorative practices expert, can see in students' body language the stress they are holding on test days. Seen breakdowns. Stress caused by standardized testing is not worth it, the data correlates that white students do better on the test because of the system and the way it was built.

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we have VIDA clinic on a lot of campuses that offer free counseling for teachers (or sliding scale, but it ends up being free for us). I dont know if every campus has a VIDA person on their campus though!

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Police do not belong in schools, impacts mental health of black and brown students. Even police doing mentoring: we can find other ways to get students mentor. If can't abolish what do you do: train them in restorative practices (no weapons, no uniforms), job is just to get to know students and staff and then lean on relationships they've built to resolve any issue that arises.

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Have to reform the way police are in schools. Get them polo shirts with an AISD logo and tiny police text, no weapons

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Majority of teachers are white, majority of students aren't. Great that cultural proficiency department has grown, but there is no required training around cultural proficiency and antiracism.

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I deal with a mild case of anxiety, mental health is very important to me. Does the District provide individuals for Teachers/Staff to talk to when you are feeling overwhelmed?

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My EPP has fully equipped us, from a cultural component. It's just doing what __ said operating in the system in another way.

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I have been given a lot of hope from pre-service teachers and new teachers and administrators coming from programs that focus on anti-racism. SO much hope. Our CP&I trainings and PD are so powerful and necessary, but it takes so much intentionality and time to do this with teachers. It requires prioritization from leadership and buy-in from staff as a whole and including families in the efforts

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I completely agree w/ __. I also think teachers need to be trained on how to analyze data and disaggregate data by racial groups, sub groups (SPED, GT, etc.) all of the time so they can see patterns regularly because oftentimes teachers (the majority of whom are white in AISD) are not aware of their implicit bias and how they are not setting up their students to be successfulthat regular feedback is very powerful but its not intuitive for all teachers. Dinorah has a lot of experience as a teacher, coach and AP doing this!

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I started in 2005 at the height of NCLB. I consider myself part of that generation of teachers that doesn't know how to teach without a test. even when the state scaled back the number of test in HS in 2014 (I think) I STILL taught to a test - the AP test. it wasn't until the three years ago when I started teaching a project-based engineering curriculum with no test that I started realizing what teaching without or BEYOND a test is.

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from my experience teaching in middle and high school, if a student fails the math or reading test, the next year, one of the classes in their schedule where they normally would pick an elective, they instead would placed in a class to support their math or reading instruction AKA make sure they pass the test in the current year.

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Thank you for your comment that what we measure is not of value. The number one predictor of success on a standardized test is race. And we all know that your intelligence and ability is not determined by your skin tone.

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Every time we call the AISD police on my campus it is because we are "following protocol" to follow up with an issue (usually a student going off campus, but other issues as well). When they arrive, they are typically unsure of their role, we do a lot of paperwork, and we never hear about it again. In the times when there has been a severe safety issue, the PD has said it is "out of their hands" and it is left to our admin.