Our Principal

The new Principal at West Dallas Junior High, Gerardo Hernandez, is a passionate and resilient educator with over 18 years of experience. His dedication to student achievement and instructional excellence has been a lifelong commitment. He started his educational career teaching fifth grade for seven years before becoming an administrator. He had the privilege of serving as an Assistant Principal at Roger Q. Mills Elementary School during the onset of the ACE initiative in our district. Also, he served in the same role at Sam Tasby Middle School before having the opportunity to serve as Principal at Edwin J. Kiest Elementary School for 2 years. During his time at Kiest, the campus reestablished several extra-curricular activities, piloted the SEL initiative, and made significant instructional gains in a year.

In June 2020, Mr. Hernandez transitioned to Thomas J. Rusk Middle School and led the campus to becoming a Dallas ISD Choice campus for Personalized Learning, an extended Redesign model and the recertification of their National AVID Demonstration Campus status.

In 2023, he transitioned to North Dallas High School, where he has served for two years. At Bulldog Nation, he contributed to improving the CCMR accountability indicator and enhanced campus-wide instructional practices.

A proud product of the Dallas Independent School District, Gerardo Hernandez attended Mount Auburn Elementary before graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in East Dallas. He received his Bachelor's of Interdisciplinary Studies Degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Master's in Educational Administration Degree from Texas Women's University in Denton. He has earned one of the highest recognitions in Dallas ISD, being named Master Principal. Also, he was the recipient of the 2022 North Dallas Vertical Team Secondary Principal of the Year.

He joins the exceptional students, parents, community and team members at West Dallas Junior High as Principal for the 2025-2026 academic school year with an overwhelming sense of excitement at the opportunity to continue the upward momentum of academic achievement, instructional excellence, and student experiences to build the whole child. An educator at heart, he looks forward to working alongside such dedicated principals, teachers and students from across the Pinkston Vertical Team in the upcoming months. His determination to ensure every student achieves beyond his or her potential will be his driving force with the focus on West Dallas Junior High becoming the premier choice campus in Dallas ISD with a culture-rich community focus on one vision, student success.