West Dallas Junior High school reopens at historic Thomas Edison campus
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Once again, West Dallas will have a junior high of its own.
The neighborhood’s seventh- and eighth- graders lost their Thomas Edison campus when Dallas ISD closed the school five years ago, then moved to the original Pinkston High School. (For a brief moment, they were headed to Raul Quintanilla in north Oak Cliff, until neighbors informed district officials that Pinkston’s second floor was vacant and advocated for junior high students to stay in the neighborhood.)
Until recently, the plan was that all West Dallas seventh- and eighth-graders would attend the new West Dallas STEM School. But now, after more advocating from neighbors, the district is reopening Thomas Edison as the West Dallas Junior High.
“The cry to me was, ‘We want to reclaim and restore our history,’” West Dallas trustee Joe Carreon told Dallas Free Press. “We didn’t want to be erased in the way we felt erased by so many other things happening in this zip code.”
Read the full story, which includes several other school changes for West Dallas. Parents have until Jan. 31 to opt their students into a DISD choice or magnet school if they want something different.
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Keri Mitchell has spent 20+ years as a community journalist, including 15 years dedicated to community and civic journalism at Dallas’ Advocate magazines. She launched Dallas Free Press in early 2020 with the belief that all neighborhoods deserve reporting and storytelling that values their community and holds leaders accountable.
Mitchell says she is energized by “knowing our work is making an impact — listening to people, telling their stories with strong narratives paired with compelling data that leads to change. I also love spending time in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors, learning from them and working to determine how journalism can be part of the solution to their challenges.”
Mitchell is proud to be the winner of multiple awards during her journalism career including: Finalist in Magazine Feature Reporting (2018) and Finalist in Magazine Investigative Reporting (2017) from Hugh Aynesworth Excellence in Journalism, Best Feature Story (2011) from Texas Community Newspaper Association and Best Magazine Feature (2011) from Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards.
Areas of Expertise:
local government, education, civic issues, investigative and enterprise reporting
Location Expertise:
Dallas, Texas
Official Title:
Founder + executive director
Email Address:
keri@dallasfreepress.com
