DALLAS — Skyline High School is the largest Dallas ISD high school serving roughly 4,000 students all across the city. It provides both magnet and early college learning. This year, it has a new principal with old ties.
Principal Joseph Pouncy is a former student who is on a mission to spread the impact Skyline has had on him with current students. In his first year, that influence is already making change.
In 1996, Pouncy was a senior at Skyline High School. Today, he roams the halls as the school's leader.
“This is home. I affectionately say every time I get to meet people, ‘It feels like I’m coming back home,’” Pouncy said. “It’s funny. Sometimes the halls feel a little smaller. Either I’ve grown, either up or out, I don’t know… probably both.”
It is a growth in humor, appreciation and care for the students.
“We want to make sure that they’re heard. We make sure that they’re loved,” Pouncy said. “My goal is for everyone to have a purpose for being here. All 4,000 of our kids match that energy and match that success.”
Last year, Skyline scored an overall 72 out of 100 on the Texas Education Agency’s report card, which evaluates student achievement and school progress.
Pouncy tells students, "You’ve got to get your bag."
That is behavior, attendance and grades. So far, just 12 weeks into the new school year, the attendance rate has improved from 88% to 94%.
“I did everything that you would do if you were on the path to dropping out,” said Laila Wade. She's a senior at Skyline HS.
“I was a student who had some issues; fighting, bad grades, bad attendance, skipping," said Ja’Kezia Boyd, who is also a Skyline HS senior.
Both Wade and Boyd have made complete turnarounds.
“With his encouragement to all of the students and the chances that he gives us to do better, I have straight A’s. I have not one absence, not one tardy,” Boyd said. “He gave me the opportunity to fix myself and give everybody a better image of me not just for them but for myself.”
Wade transferred to the school her sophomore year and received a great deal of support from Pouncy.
“They found a way for me to be a part of groups and special things, so that I wouldn’t feel left out my senior year," said Wade.
It is a sense of belonging that makes Skyline feel like home.
“We’re really reaching out to our social-emotional learning,” Pouncy said. “It’s not just a homecoming for me. I would like it to be a homecoming for all Skyline graduates… We honor the old and charge forward with the new.”