Dallas ISD put a spotlight on its nine school board trustees as part of School Board Recognition Month this January.
This year’s theme is “Locally Elected, Community Connected.”
“Our board members are vital. Their dedication, vision, and commitment shape the future of our schools and students,” said Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde in a press release.
The nine trustees elected to represent Dallas ISD’s education districts are as follows:
District 1 – Edwin Flores
Flores represents northwestern Dallas and has served on Dallas ISD’s school board in various capacities since 2005. He has also been on the boards of several different community groups, including Boy Scouts Circle 10 Council, the Dallas Assembly, Medical City Hospital Dallas’ community board, the Dallas Historical Society, and the Southwestern Medical Foundation. He is the managing partner and founder of the intellectual property law firm Chalker Flores LLP.
District 2 – Sarah Weinberg, board secretary
Representing north and near-east Dallas, Weinberg was elected in June 2023 after prevailing over Jimmy Tran with 53% of the vote in a runoff race, as previously covered by The Dallas Express. She has an established career in the nonprofit domain, most recently serving as the chief strategy officer for United to Learn.
District 3 – Dan Micciche, first vice-president
Micciche of northeastern Dallas has served on the school board since 2012. He is partner emeritus at the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. He has served on the board of directors of the American Red Cross Dallas, the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas, and the mayor’s Task Force on Ethics Reform. In February, Micciche was appointed to the Dallas Area Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness board, as covered by The Dallas Express.
District 4 – Camile D. White
White represents southeastern Dallas after getting elected in 2022. However, her education district was highlighted by The Dallas Express‘ Bad Apples Series in September for its poor student achievement outcomes. About 10,000 students were stuck in underperforming schools in the district. Some 1,875 of those students were enrolled at W.W. Samuell High School, which saw only 31% of its students score at grade level on their 2021-2022 STAAR exams.
District 5 – Maxie Johnson, second vice-president
Johnson’s constituency stretches over western Dallas, Oak Lawn, Uptown, and most of South Oak Cliff. He has served the community in many ways, including as a member of the South Oak Cliff High School PTA, a football and baseball coach, and a pastor at New Morning Star Baptist Church.
Elected in 2019, Johnson has not been able to turn around the struggling schools in his education district, with many showing alarming student achievement outcomes, as previously covered by The Dallas Express. He too has been named a Bad Apple for the number of students attending underperforming campuses in his district.
District 6 – Joyce Foreman
Representing southwest Dallas since 2014, Foreman is a retired entrepreneur who said she is dedicated to advancing students academically. She is also a member of the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee and the Commission on Educational Excellence.
District 7 – Ben Mackey
Mackey, a former Dallas ISD principal of the School for the Talented and Gifted, was elected in 2022 to serve North Central Oak Cliff, Cockrell Hill, and some of western Dallas. He is also the founding board president for the Rosedale Freedom Project in Mississippi, which provides afterschool and summer programming for students.
District 8 – Joe Carreón
Since 2023, Carreón represented northwestern Dallas, the Love Field area, and other neighborhoods. He is a practicing attorney and has considerable experience working with both local government and the community, including at the Dallas Mayor’s Office, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and the Bachman-Northwest Highway Community Association.
District 9 – Justin Henry, president
First elected in 2018 to serve South Dallas and some of Downtown Dallas, Pleasant Grove, Deep Ellum, Uptown, and East Dallas, Henry is a practicing attorney who also previously taught middle schoolers in South Los Angeles.
He was also named a Bad Apple by The Dallas Express due to the 17 schools in his district earning below 70 out of 100 on their campus student achievement scores for the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency’s accountability reports.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Dallas ISD has been plagued with issues ranging from accusations of mismanagement to consecutive years of lackluster academic results. In the 2021-2022 school year, Dallas ISD saw only 41% of its students score at grade level on their STAAR exams, according to a Texas Education Agency accountability report. Moreover, almost 20% of its seniors did not graduate within four years that school year.
