A Case Study in Academic and School Nursing Partnerships

School nurses play a vital role in the lives of children and are guided by The National Association of School Nurses’ Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice and its five major principles. School nurses practice independently and are often the sole healthcare provider at their designated schools, requiring them to be accomplished clinicians utilizing evidence-based practice in the care of children. When compared with nurses practicing in healthcare settings, school nurses may lack access to evidence-based continuing education and skill enhancement. One strategy proposed is the forming of partnerships with an academic institution, giving school nurses access to academic faculty and resources. This article highlights the collaboration and partnership between Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing and the Dallas Independent School District, demonstrating that an academic partnership for the training of school nurses improves outcomes.

The Value of Alpha SPF Roofing: An Alpha Case Study at William Lipscomb Elementary School

An Alpha roof is a type of Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system that has been documented to be one of the highest performing roofs in the industry. Despite the high level of performance of the Alpha SPF roofs, owners still try to protect themselves by purchasing warranties. When the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) did not receive enough funding to purchase the Alpha roofs for their school buildings, general contractors started shopping the Alpha contractors. The demand for Alpha roofs during DISD bond programs exceeded the supply of Alpha vendors. DISD lowered the requirements and the contractors and manufacturers delivered lower quality roofs. DISD still required the performance of the Alpha roofing system, even though they bought lower performing systems without the quality control requirements of the higher performing Alpha roofs. DISD was not happy with the lower performance on some of the inexpensive roofs. This paper describes a case study that proposes that high roof performance is a result of expert contractors proving their past performance, detailed preplanning, manufacturers doing quality control, contractors tracking their time and cost deviations and independent third party inspections. The expert Alpha contractor completed the project with the best dimensional stability metrics (dimensional stability is a metric of long lasting roofs). The roof installation was completed in 20 days and saved DISD over 20% of the cost of the roof, despite an increase in the scope of work. It was the first DISD project that had no punch-list items after the final walkthrough. DISD was extremely satisfied with the roof and the Alpha program demonstrated its effectiveness in the installation of roofs.

Dallas Students Take Flights

In 1954, when Brown vs. Board of Education (Brown) ruled that segregation was illegal, Dallas, like most southern cities, was very residentially segregated and not eager to welcome black children into white schools as mandated. The city dragged its feet far longer than others, and in 1961 it was the very last large school district in the country to allow black students to attend white schools (SMU Law 1). Busing for integration was implemented even farther behind other cities, but white flight out of the school district occurred in Dallas to a greater degree than most other metropolitan areas. Currently, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the Dallas school district has the second lowest percentage of white students, only behind Detroit (“Status and Trends”). There is no question that residential segregation in Dallas was happening long before segregated schools became illegal, leaving uncertainty about the true causes of the wholesale abandoning of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) by whites. Some researchers believe that the fear of integration doomed the process before it started, while others believe that the flawed implementation is responsible for its failure. I believe that the racial and political atmosphere in Dallas at the time supports a combination of both explanations, as the resisted, prolonged roll-out facilitated a level of fear that the actual implementation could never overcome.

The Cost Effectiveness of Alpha SPF Roofs: Casa View Elementary School Roofing Case Study

The performance of the Alpha Sprayed Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system is perceived as not an economical option when compared to a 20-year modified roofing system. The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is replacing the existing Alpha SPF roof systems with new roof systems rather than recoating the existing systems at a cost that is 100% more than the recoating costs. The DISD is in a heavy hail area, and the proven hail resistance of the Alpha SPF roof system is an additional benefit for DISD who is self-insured. The Casa View Elementary School roof system was installed with a Neogard Permathane roof system in 1987. This roof was hail tested with ten drops from 17 feet 9 inches of 1-3/4-inch steel ball (9 out of 10 passed) and three drops from 17 feet 9 inches with a 3-inch diameter steel ball (1 out of 3 passed). The analysis of the passing and failing core samples show that the thickness of the top and base Alpha SPF coating is one of the major differences in a roof passing or failing the FM-SH hail test. The current potential cost savings of purchasing a 61,000 square feet Alpha SPF roof versus modified bitumen roof is approximately $610,000 for DISD. The past hail tests on Alpha SPF roof systems show high customer satisfaction (9.8 out of 10) and an over 40-year service life after a $6.00/SF recoat.

Hail Study on a 15 Year Old Sprayed Polyurethane Foam Roofing System

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has utilized Alpha sprayed polyurethane (SPF) roof systems since the 1980s. Alpha SPF roof systems are high performing roof systems if installed properly and are very resistant to hail damage (hail damage is significant in the Dallas area). However, DISD, due to their low bid award procurement system, have had some poor performing roof systems installed by contractors who did not utilize performing materials and processes. The Alpha SPF roof system is now being questioned by designers who are not aware of their high performance and wanted to tear-off one of the oldest SPF roofing systems after a hail storm. This case study is on one of DISD roofs which were studied to determine the actual and potential service period based on actual performance. It was concluded that the roof is capable of lasting another 15 more years with a simple recoat (resulting in 38 years of performance at a fraction of the cost of a traditional modified roof).

The Replacement of Warranties with Logic and Common Sense

Many problems are caused by owners specifying project technical requirements to expert vendors, then picking the low-price vendor, assuming that all the vendors are providing the same quality of product. Research over the last 20 years has identified that when working with highly technical areas, this practice brings high risk to the owner because the vendors do not have the expertise to understand the requirements. The Alpha sprayed polyurethane foam (SPF) roof system has brought the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) high value but also occasional risk caused by the low-price vendor. The authors are proposing that DISD’s effort to buy the Alpha SPF roof system through the low-price competition will cause DISD risk. A new approach is proposed to DISD: the Alpha SPF roof system only be used as an alternate value added option. This approach assumes that the only way the Alpha SPF system can be procured is if it is in the best interest of the owner due to dominant value. This approach minimizes the risk that DISD has encountered from low-price contractors who have not been able to minimize risk through the use of expertise and experience because their low-price was directly related to practices which are related to a lack of experience and expertise.

Alternative Teacher Certification: Its Policy Implications for Classroom and Personnel Practice

Alternative certification (AC) of teachers is an issue of interest and discussion within the 1980s education reform movement. Little empirical evaluation is available for formulating policy, however. This research describes an alternative certification program in the Dallas Independent School District. Recruitment programs resulted in 4,000 inquiries and over 1,300 applicants, 691 of whom took the entrance test, 557 who passed, and 110 who were admitted to the program. This research addresses eight topics: (a) characteristics of the program, (b) characteristics of the interns, (c) intern attitudes, (d) comparison of interns and traditionally certified teachers, (e) teaching performance of interns, (f) predictors of AC success, (g) reaction to the program, and (h) consideration of whether AC programs can contribute to the need for teachers. Policy recommendations, based on the above, are formulated.

TESTING THE TEACHERS - THE DALLAS EXPERIMENT

Here is an excerpt from what may prove to be one of the more important unpublished works of 1978. It's something we'd all like to know more about these days, the credo of a teacher: "I believe a role of a classroom teacher is to a leader of her class. She should be a leader in teaching her class knowledge to its full potentials. She should make sure that the children maximize in their subjects by having materials available for them at all times and that it is appropriate for them (the subject matter.) She should be patient and understanding with the children and know that all the children have different capabilities." These words were written by a young woman looking for a job in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). She was not hired, although she has probably taken a job someplace else by now. Maybe she's teaching your children to maximize in their subjects. The schoolteacher's increasingly strident claim to be a professional is much less convincing than it used to be when teachers were more obviously intellectuals. Certainty teachers are the least trained of all the so-called professionals, and their training is the least likely to be scrutinized by anyone other than those who claim to provide it. Its effectiveness cannot be tested in the marketplace; the pay scale is the same for the best and the worst teachers. To be certified as a teacher in Texas, as in almost any state, all one needs to do is to graduate from college with passing grades in a certain number of education courses.

Hypertension Screening in Schools: Results of the Dallas Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of persistent blood pressure elevations in an eighth-grade population composed of three ethnic groups, and to determine the feasibility of using school health facilities for hypertension screening. Blood pressure was recorded in 10,641 subjects (90% of the total eighth-grade population) in the Dallas Independent School District. Blacks made tip 46% of the population; non-Latin whites, 40.1%; and Latin-Americans, 13.9%. On the first blood pressure screening, 8.9% had systolic or diastolic pressures or both at or above the 95th percentile. Of those whose blood pressures were elevated on the first examination, 98.3% were reexamined. After the third examination, 1.2% continued to have systolic hypertension, and 0.37% diastolic hypertension. No student had diastolic pressure above 90 mm Hg on all three examinations. The prevalence of persistent hypertension was similar for the three ethnic groups. Analysis of variation in blood pressure measurements revealed that the school nurses introduced a relatively small increase in variability. These data indicate that although school screening initially identifies large numbers of students as having inconstant presstire elevations, subsequent follow-up examinations show that less than 2% have persistent hypertension.