c l i c kw o r t hy EDUCATION W.H. Adamson High School principal Diana Nuñez won a $20,000 scholarship to pursue a doctorate degree. Credit Union of Texas awarded Nuñez its William H. Cotton Scholarship, which is given annually to a Dallas ISD teacher or administrator to pursue a master’s or Ph.D. while continuing to serve their DISD school. Nuñez will use the scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in the cooperative superintendency program at The University of Texas at Austin. A new Dallas ISD secondary school will be named in honor of the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a community leader, social justice advocate and senior pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. The school, which opens this fall, will be located on the campus of Paul Quinn College and serve students in grades 6-12 with plans to become an International Baccalaureate school. Starting next school year, all DISD courses designated as “pre-AP” will be classified instead as “honors” courses. Though the name is changing, DISD’s director of Advanced Academic Services Mitch Morken says the course content will stay the same. Correction: A byline for photos taken at House of Dirt, on page 18 of the February Oak Cliff Advocate, should’ve read, “Photography by Kathy Tran.” The Advocate regrets the error.
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LEACHERS, PLAYER BENCHES AND A NEW CONCRETE PAD are coming soon to the Kidd Springs Park basketball court thanks to neighbors who raised $18,000, plus a matching grant from the Home Court Program, a partnership
between ESPN and the Local Initiatives Support Corp. The total $36,000 renovation will facilitate Dallas Youth League play. “In the 12 years that our group has been focusing on the park, we’ve been checking off things on our wish list, so it’s great to check one more thing off,” says Augustine Jalomo, president of Kidd Springs Central. “If you look at it, it’s a very sad court. It’s time to show it some love.” Donate to the project at dallasparksfoundation.org. Search “basketball court” at oakcliff.advocatemag.com to read more.
THEN & NOW For a building nearly destroyed by the famous 1957 Dallas tornado, she’s holding up pretty well. The Kessler Theater was boarded up when its current owner bought it over a decade ago. Besides extensive interior renovations, the marquee was reconstructed with impressive historic accuracy. Top photo, from the 1960s, courtesy of The Kessler, and 2015 photo courtesy of Jeffrey Liles.
