By Joyce Foreman
Dallas ISD
District 6
I’m so pleased that my colleagues on the Board of Trustees voted with me to change the name of Atwell Middle School to Louis Bedford Middle School, in honor of the late Judge Louis A. Bedford Jr., a celebrated African American attorney, longtime judge and civil rights activist.
Judge Bedford, the first African American judge in Dallas County history, was also a founder of the Barristers Club, later renamed the J.L. Turner Legal Society. In 1978, he was appointed to the Commission for Nominating Federal Circuit Court Judges to the Fifth Circuit. In addition, he was a respected member of the Dallas Bar Association, and was elected to the organization’s board of directors in 1984.
The name change followed a yearlong process by the District 6 committee, and I’m pleased we were able to move forward on a very important school name change with the vote of the Board.
In addition, R.L. Thornton Elementary has been renamed Otto M. Fridia Elementary, to honor the well-known educator who served Dallas ISD as a teacher, counselor, assistant principal, principal of three schools, and deputy assistant superintendent, and later became the first African American acting as general superintendent for Dallas ISD.
Community Conversation
Thanks to all who turned out at Carter High School for the recent Community Conversation with Superintendent Hinojosa. It was a great opportunity to learn firsthand about goings-on and plans for the district, ask questions and provide feedback.
Superintendent Search
As the superintendent prepares to close out his tenure in Dallas ISD, the board took action this month to finalize the job description, timeline, community engagement plan and survey that will allow us to move forward with the hiring of a new superintendent to lead our district into the future. The adopted timeline will result in us hiring a new superintendent before the start of the 2022-2023 school year. In the meantime, a District 6 Virtual Community Meeting to discuss the superintendent search and hear community input is being held on Thursday, April 14 at 6 p.m. You may join via Zoom with the meeting ID: 883 7029 6853.
Accolades for Our Athletes
Congratulations to Kimball Knights Chauncey Gibson, who made the 5A Region 2 All-Region Team, and Arterio Morris and Trae Clayton, who both made the 5A Region 2 All-Region Team and the 5A All-State Team. We’re so proud of all your accomplishments!
Big shoutout to Kimball basketball Coach Nicholas Smith, District 12-5A, co-coach of the year! Awesome job, Kimball Knights!
And congratulations to the three-in-a-row 12-4A District Champs, the Carter Cowboys, for doing it again! Kudos to Devin Lewis for being selected the 12-4A District Co-MVP in basketball.
