In the “hospital wing” of a Dallas campus, Susie complained about cramps in her abdomen. Teenagers surrounded her, trying to figure out what was wrong by checking her vital signs.
Susie, a high-tech mannequin, is designed to help DISD high schoolers learn to be diagnostic medical sonographers or radiologic technologists — jobs that pay good wages and are expected to be plentiful when the students graduate, based on employment projections.
Teachers program Susie to show symptoms of a host of ailments. Her fingers can fill with “blood” to teach students how to take a finger prick. Realistic-feeling veins run down her pale arms.
“Anytime you stick somebody, you want to make sure it feels bouncy,” Sha’Terri Knight, a health science teacher, told the students. “If it doesn’t feel bouncy, it’s a tendon.”
On this recent typical school day at Career Institute North, other students were learning about how to fly planes. Some were roasting veal bones to prepare a stock. A handful were programming small robots.
Students attending DISD’s career institutes are working not just toward graduation but toward earning industry-based certifications that can help them secure steady employment.
“This is about kids getting the latest and greatest aligned to high-demand, high-wage jobs,” Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said at a recent school board meeting.
The buildings are designed to be state-of-the-art, with design influences borrowed from industry leaders. A DISD official visited Apple, for example, and brought back elements of its look: metallic colors, softened with wood, and plenty of collaborative spaces.
It would be financially impossible to replicate such high-tech, specialized offerings at two dozen comprehensive high schools, Elizalde noted. By consolidating the programs, DISD can afford such a campus in each quadrant of the district.
Career Institute North — with its 165,000 square feet and $75 million price tag — was completed this year.
Students split their time between taking core classes at their home high schools — Conrad, Hillcrest, North Dallas, Thomas Jefferson and W.T. White — and learning industry-specific skills at the Career Institute North.
DISD began serving students at the south and east career institutes in August 2020. Career Institute West students are attending the south campus until their building is completed in 2026.
Serving students
Senior Henry Gandara works with robots when he comes to the career institute. He wants to graduate and get a job at Texas Instruments. He hopes the company will then pay for him to go to college, so he can become an engineer.
He and other students on the manufacturing track can earn certifications for maintenance operations, along with basic mechanical and electrical systems.
“When I get out of high school, I’ll already have a certification. I’ll graduate and be able to start off as a technician — and that’s better pay,” he said.
The $60,000 salary would help his family out, he added.
In the culinary wing, instructor Will Milligan works mostly with students who qualify for special education services. The program is built to offer extra support for them.
Milligan aims to instill the fundamentals of cooking in his classroom. Looking around the spacious kitchen, the chef said the appliances are all state-of-the-art.
“The No. 1 thing — if they don’t get anything else out of my class –— is sanitation and cleanliness,” he said.
Career Institute North serves more than 1,300 students.
Once the career institutes are fully built out, they could enroll around 3,600 students per site, said Oswaldo Alvarenga, deputy chief of career readiness.
Only Career Institute North is finished. Campuses in the east and south, while serving students, are still getting construction upgrades. Their buildings will soon reflect the same standards as the northern site, which was built on the Walnut Hill grounds that sustained tornado damage in 2019.
Long-term impact
The district is working to evaluate the impact of its institutes on graduates, but it’s been challenging to gain access to long-term employment and salary data.
DISD officials are developing an app to help them stay in touch with graduates, so they can keep up with how they’re doing in their chosen careers.
Beyond the institutes, Dallas ISD is working on revamping its high school offerings to help students prepare for college and careers.
Elizalde recently told The Dallas Morning News the administration is planning to cut some unpopular high school programs, which would open up staff positions and funding that then could be used to hire additional counselors.
She said that too many teachers slots are not being effectively used in high schools. The district is working with education advocates to boost the number of Dallas students who can graduate and earn livable wages.
“I’m doing a disservice if I’ve got a program that doesn’t connect to those high-wage, high-demand jobs, because I’m putting kids in a situation where they’re not going to be part of the economic engine,” Elizalde said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
