Keandra Banks said the underside of a pizza in her daughter's school lunch was covered in mold. Duncanville ISD said inspections performed by staff found no issues.

DUNCANVILLE, Texas — A parent claims a school in North Texas served moldy food to her daughter during lunch period last week.

Keandrae Banks said her daughter sent a photo of the lunch items she received at Byrd Middle School in Duncanville ISD on Friday, April 28. The woman said the photo included a cup of sliced pears and a partially eaten slice of pizza. She claims she got angry when she took a close look at the pizza crust.

“My baby and her friends, they ate the pizza, but after they realized it didn't taste right, they flipped it over and that's when they seen all of that mold,” explained Banks.

This week, the concerned mom began blasting the middle school and its lunch program on social media. Other parents began chiming in about their children having similar complaints about food quality.

“My baby has been complaining to me about her food for some time now, but to be honest, as a parent, I thought that she was just being spoiled and wanted me to bring her Chick-fil-A and bring her food and stuff every day. When she sent me that picture, I'm like wait a minute! I kind of felt bad,” said Banks said.

According to Duncanville ISD, no student has reported issues concerning food in the past week. A spokesperson for the school district said the manufacturer was contacted and that company is doing a quality control inspection.

Duncanville ISD went on to say staff verified the food was cooked to specifications, and an inspection of the remaining pizzas found no concerns. Sample plate created for every meal served in the cafeteria were pulled, and did not identify any issues.

The school district also added all pre-made products will get additional inspection before being cooked and served.

This isn’t the first time students and parents have complained of moldy or spoiled foods at schools in North Texas. Last school year, Dallas ISD launched an investigation after parents found molded breakfast items at Geneva Heights Elementary. Discolored sandwich meat at Kimball High School triggered a student walkout over food safety concerns.

"At the end of the day, if that was your child that you was sending to that school, would you want your child eating that same food?” Banks asked.

Duncanville ISD said this appears to be an isolated issue, though Banks said she disagreed with that statement.

TERRELL, TX— June 12, 2023— STAR Transit, a regional public transit agency, will hold two public meetings regarding the upcoming rollout of public transportation services in Duncanville. Anyone wishing to express their opinions or ask questions is encouraged to attend.

“STAR Transit has a decades-long history of providing affordable and reliable public transportation to southern Dallas County. We are excited to extend our services to riders in Duncanville,” said Tommy Henricks, STAR Transit Executive Director. “We take community feedback seriously, so please share your thoughts at a public meeting.”

STAR Transit will launch two service options in Duncanville. Dial-A-Ride service can be booked one business day to up to two weeks in advance and allows riders to connect to DART and other regional transportation networks. STARNow trips can be booked via the call center or the STARNow app and offer same-day service within the designated zone.

Public meeting #1 is Wednesday, June 21 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will be at Duncanville City Hall, 203 E Wheatland Rd, Duncanville, TX 75116.

Public meeting #2 is Friday, June 23 at 1:00 p.m. The meeting will be virtual and can be attended via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81832358672), Facebook (facebook.com/startransit/), or by calling 719-359-4580 (meeting ID: 818 3235 8672).

Assistive listening devices, American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, and other accommodations will be made available upon request by contacting Teresa Elliott at 469-474-2309. Please provide at least 72 hours’ notice to help ensure availability. Un traductor español estará disponible.

The public comment period ends July 7. For more information, call 877-631-5278 or visit STARtransit.org. STAR Transit service in Duncanville is scheduled to begin July 17.

About STAR Transit. Founded in 1988, STAR Transit is the fourth-largest transit agency in the North Central Texas region—and the largest not funded by sales tax. Revenues are derived from federal and state grants as well as local partnerships with cities, counties, and businesses. STAR Transit provides safe, affordable, and convenient transportation to the general public, seniors, veterans, and persons with disabilities for access to jobs, healthcare, personal services, retail, entertainment, and more. Over 100 employees are responsible for providing more than 155,000 rides annually. The agency is headquartered in Terrell, TX. For more information, visit STARtransit.org.

Selecting an excellent City Manager for Duncanville, Setting the bar high for excellent customer service, building trust with the community and adopting a balanced budget.

I believe Duncanville needs an advocate for progression, accomplishing goals and champion unity amongst our beautifully diverse city.

Empathy, willingness to learn, integrity and discipline to do the homework and research

I ran in 2021 for District 1, I am a former member but current volunteer of Lion’s Club, I was Vice Chair and now current Chair of Duncanville Neighborhood Vitality Commission and I am an active participant in Property Improvement Program (PIP)

Selecting an excellent City Manger that will carry out the mission and vision set by Council. Building trust in the community with its local governing bodies to eliminate division. Assessing status of current Comp Plan and evaluating priorities.

I am going on 5 years here in the City of Champions. I have 20 years of effective municipal government service as a city employee. I have been active in my community and not just when I decided to run. I have a Masters of Public Administration to complement the 20 years of experience I have in serving the public. I don’t rush to form a quick opinion. I believe in doing my homework and meeting with all stakeholders.

I review all data that is accessible. Data that include current policies, documented related procedures, budgets, expectations and present requests I speak with the constituents involved and I pray to seek wisdom.

I would have to respect the decision that was made. In working with any group of people there will be times you will have to agree to disagree but understand the common goal is to push Duncanville forward for the betterment of us all. This is democracy.

I would need to do more research to sufficiently answer this but anything that isn’t relevant or conducive to our comprehensive and strategic plan is open for consideration.

In my career I have found creating spaces for engaging with the community to be the most effective way to involve the residents. Such as establishing a regular meeting that meets with current neighborhood ambassadors/champions to receive and disseminate information. Provide updates on previous concerns, receive new concerns and empower them to inform their neighbors on current events in Duncanville. Have an English and Spanish meeting available. This can be done with resources we currently have such as Neighborhood Services, Crime Prevention Officers and our Neighborhood Vitality Commission.

The vision I mentioned in previous question and make myself available to attend any event that I am invited to. Being seen in the communities and if time allows after Briefing Session and before Council meeting visit with audience during that window of time.

As a person who is dedicated to being a broad thinker and open to learning I am sure I have. The older I get the more I challenge my own thinking and open to hear both sides of the argument without preconceived ideas.

I have mentioned my 20 years of experience, credentials and plan ideas. The only thing I would like to mention is who I am as a person. I am a wife of nearly 25 years, mother of a veteran, active duty sailor and a welder. Grandmother of five little ones and a member of the Potter’s House of Dallas since 1996. I have a passion for serving in any capacity but I definitely have a heart for championing worthy causes and will use my big mouth to do so. Thank you to ALL of Duncanville for all the support, love and acceptance you have shown during this campaign. I love you forever! To God be the glory!

Early voting will be conducted Monday, April 24, 2023, through Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at the Duncanville Library Conference Rooms at 201 James Collins Blvd., Duncanville, TX 75116.

Early Voting

April 24-28, Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM April 29, Saturday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM April 30, Sunday, 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM May 1, 2, Monday, Tuesday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Election Day Voting is May 6, 2023, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Main Street Fest kicks off Fri., April 21 in Downtown Grand Prairie

(Grand Prairie, TX; April 2023)—Main Street Fest, one of the longer-running and popular standbys on the North Texas spring festival calendar, returns this Friday for a weekend packed with classic street festival fun.

Set for April 21-23, Main Street Fest offers a daily lineup of concerts and live entertainment, carnival rides and games, elevated festival cuisine, a beer garden, and arts and crafts vendors. Admission and parking are free.

Main Stage evening headline acts include North Texas Tejano star Monica Saldivar on Frida; ‘80s dance band favorites Klymaxx on Saturday; and Grammy-nominated country artist Jack Ingram on Sunday. Other noteworthy attractions include the Main Street Fest KIDZONE (a perennial festival favorite); an Asian Film & Arts Festival happening in downtown’s Uptown Theater (new this year); and an environmentally-themed art and craft activity area sponsored by the United States Army Reserve 63d Readiness Division – Environmental.

Since the event’s 2012 debut, Main Street Fest regularly draws attendance of more than 30,000. Duane Strawn, Director of the City of the Grand Prairie Parks, Arts & Recreation Department, said that organizers anticipate an equally sizable turnout this year.

“Our concert lineup this year is especially robust, and our other attractions are as strong as ever,” said Strawn. “We suggest arriving as early as possible in order to have plenty of time to enjoy your favorite things to do, and maybe discover a new favorite destination at the festival and in downtown Grand Prairie.”

Main Street Fest has received numerous awards from the Texas Festivals and Events Association, the Texas Recreation and Parks Society, and DFW media outlets, including “Best Festival of the Year” and “Best Festival in Texas” nods. Learn more at mainstreetfest.com

WHO and WHAT: Main Street Fest 2023, presented by the Grand Prairie Parks, Arts & Recreation Department

WHEN:

Friday, April 21: 5:00 p.m. – midnight

Saturday, April 22: 10:00 a.m. – midnight

Sunday, April 23: noon – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Main Street Fest is located in downtown Grand Prairie, in and around the 200 block of W. Main Street and City Hall.

FIND OUT MORE:

For general information:

Follow @mainstreetfest (facebook and instagram) or visit mainstreetfest.com

Even before Alfonso Hernandez moved from the Mexican state of Zacatecas to Abilene in 1997 at the age of eleven, he knew he wanted to be his own boss. Doing what or where, he hadn’t decided. He later moved to Bryan with his mother, who relocated to be closer to family after his parents divorced. Then, in 2015, Hernandez’s father asked for his son’s help running his bakery and burrito joint, the eponymous Alfonso Hernandez Bakery, in Abilene.

The elder Hernandez opened the bakery in 2007, after working as a baker at local stalwarts like La Popular. But, 8 years in, the business was faltering and needed a fresh approach. The younger Hernandez was 26. To the menu, he immediately added northern Mexican guisados like asado rojo, chile guajillo–soaked chunks of pork; carne con chile, green chile–slathered stew meat; carne guisada, the Tex-Mex stew to rule them all; and barbacoa.

One of his proudest additions was flour gorditas, best when filled with the asado rojo. Hernandez says his mother’s gorditas, which she sold outside an elementary school, were the inspiration. “I remember she would sell a lot,” he recalls. “So, I thought, ‘I’m gonna try and add it to the menu.’ It worked out. People liked it.” Then Hernandez realized he loved running a restaurant. “I became passionate about it. I like it when you give people your food and they actually like it.”

In 2021, the younger Hernandez moved to Mansfield because his wife, Denise Hernandez, got a job as an adjunct professor of public health at nearby University of Texas at Arlington. His love of restaurants followed him. He quickly amassed a collection of kitchen equipment in his garage in the hopes of opening his own Mexican restaurant. A place in Pantego, near Arlington, fell through. Hernandez was itching to get something going. “I was kind of desperate to open already,” he says of that time. Then he came across a former fried chicken spot on Cedar Ridge Drive in Duncanville. He purchased the building in October 2022 and finally opened Alfonso’s Breakfast Burritos this March. It’s become a hit in the community.

The first day was a mess, though. “It wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t busy either,” Hernandez says during a phone interview. “It was exhausting.” He admits he made a mistake by beginning staff training the day before opening. “One day wasn’t going to be enough; I knew that,” he says. So the second day of training was the first day of service. “I had to train the cashiers. I had to train the ladies in my kitchen because I’m the one who knew the recipes, and I had to train the guy who makes the dough for the flour tortillas,” he says. It was brutal. Thankfully, the food met Hernandez’s standard. More importantly, it met customers’ standards.

During my visit, a woman who was having a late breakfast with her husband and parents softly told me that Hernandez’s guajillo-infused menudo was as good as her mom’s. As a joke, I raised my index finger to my lips and whispered, “Shh, don’t let her hear that.” The woman laughed. Her mother nodded. Then everyone, including Hernandez, chuckled.

I didn’t go for the menudo, but a friend and I did try a substantial order of burritos, all of them large and most of them filled with a single guiso, as is the custom in West Texas. While hearty, the sausage, bacon, and egg breakfast burrito was too salty for my taste. That being said, the flour tortilla, produced via a BE&SCO countertop machine, was light, chewy, and almost transparent in spots, with a slight flakiness. On the spectrum of regional flour tortillas, the ones at Alfonso’s Breakfast Burritos sit somewhere between the thicker South Texas ones and the thin but sturdy West Texas variety. My favorite part of the tortillas are the nubby edges.

I’m not the only one who’s noticed, according to Hernandez. “A lot of people tell me the tortillas remind them of South Texas,” he says. He’s as surprised by the statement as he is by the near-instant support of the community. When I visited, there was a line to the door of folks waiting to order and a cluster of customers waiting for to-go orders. One gentleman in the queue shared that his wife has been frequenting Alfonso’s three to four times a week and ordering the same thing. “They know her order!” he said, laughing.

“Everybody tells me that this is exactly what Duncanville needs,” Hernandez says. Customers also tell him the tortillas remind them of their grandmothers’, a compliment of the highest order. “Hearing those stories from people is wonderful,” he adds. The tortillas are also wrapped and folded around earthy, slightly fruity guajillo-stewed asado rojo made from fried and simmered pieces of pork butt. A twist of nuttiness peeks in at the end. The asado rojo is as comforting as it gets.

It’s followed up by the carne con chile. The beef is enveloped in a salsa of banana peppers, jalapeños, serranos, and green bell peppers and represents fine home cooking. The barbacoa I had was juicy without being overly fatty. The two disappointments were the slippery chicharrón en salsa roja and the omission of a chile relleno burrito, which is my favorite. “We just took it off the menu,” Hernandez says, explaining it wasn’t among his top sellers. But the menu is too deep and exciting to quibble over a couple of duds.

Customers should ignore the separation of the menu into categories such as “breakfast burritos” and “meat burritos.” In West Texas and in Mexico, there is little distinction between specific morning, midday, or evening foods. If you want asado rojo on the way to work, go for it. “Everything is ready when we open,” Hernandez explains. This is a relief.

Dallas isn’t a breakfast taco town. The sole great nonchain spot, Tía Dora’s Bakery in Oak Cliff, stopped selling its South Texas–style options during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The area doesn’t have many breakfast burrito options, either. As such, the rapid success of Alfonso’s Breakfast Burritos is a welcome and surprising one, especially for Hernandez. “My mentality was that it’s going to start slow. It’s going to take a couple of months, you know?” he explains. But in one month of being open, Hernandez’s restaurant is making what a much more advanced business makes in a day. “That’s crazy,” Hernandez says. I hope the craziness continues.

Alfonso’s Breakfast Burritos306 N. Cedar Ridge Drive, DuncanvillePhone: 469-513-2264Hours: Monday–Saturday, 6:30 a.m.–8 p.m.

At 10, Kaylinn Kemp was the #4 guard in the nation for her age group. As a sophomore, she'll now miss a chance to win a state title due to her coach's mistake.

DUNCANVILLE, Texas — Kaylinn Kemp's varsity basketball season abruptly ended Tuesday night, and no one seems to know why.

The game was canceled due to a new district investigation into her coach that's already on suspension.

The 16-year-old star plays guard for Duncanville's girl's basketball team -- a squad filled with all-stars that are ranked number 1 in Texas and 11 nationwide.

Yet, that squad will not start its run for a state championship next week when playoffs begin.

"Whoever does win state, know that they didn't get to us. If they did, they probably wouldn't have gotten that far," Kemp said. "No one in Texas can beat us."

In October 2022, the team was barred from competing in the playoffs. The program was placed on a probation period of three years after UIL officials suspended Head Coach LaJeanna Howard for a rules violation.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "tryouts were hosted for Duncanville students not already on the team" roughly two months before practices could be held. DISD is open-enrollment. The team also posted on social media about the tryout per the Star-Telegram.

On Tuesday night, the team had to forfeit its last regular season game against Skyline after the district announced it was investigating if Howard violated her suspension and district directives.

Howard and the coaching staff are now on leave with pay pending the outcome of that investigation. No other information was given to parents or players.

Unlike Kemp, a sophomore, seniors missed a chance to give their final game their all.

The team finished 26-5 overall and 13-1 in their district, earning the district championship over DeSoto.

Credit: Gio Garcia

Crystal Blackmon (left) and Kemp talk with WFAA.

"I'm speechless when I think about it," Kemp's mother, Crystal Blackmon, said.

"These girls are all family. They're sisters. I just hate that they have been deprived of the opportunity to be greater than people already know them to be."

Kemp is on a meteoric rise and will no doubt play basketball in college. WFAA profiled her when she was 10, practicing relentlessly after being ranked number 4 in the nation for her age group.

She hopes to be in the WNBA someday.

"Basketball is very front and center for me; it's something that I've always wanted to do when I get older," Kemp said.

"Those practices are getting longer, harder, quicker and faster."

Kemp told WFAA that what happened to the team this season is out of her control, but her mother feels like the girls shouldn't be punished.

"We hear so many people say all the time that 'it's all about the kids.' Really? Well, it needs to really be that way," Blackmon said. "Egos and politics have gotten in the way. I hate that it's gotten to this point because it didn't have to."

When it comes to her future, Kemp's biggest year for recruiting will be the next season when she's a junior.

That's all she's focused on and says this "banishment" from the playoffs this season only adds gasoline to her drive.

"This gives me fuel. Me and my teammates feel like all of this will make us go next season," Kemp said.

"We got a statement to make, and the statement will be made. I just want everybody to be ready for that."