School Administration

Principal: Mr. Derek Thomas

Phone: 972-794-7100

Email: derethomas@dallasisd.org

Derek Thomas was born in Lafayette, LA. and raised in Dallas, TX.  He is a Dallas ISD product that grew up in Pleasant Grove and graduated from Skyline High School.  He went on to receive his Bachelors of Business Administration from The University of North Texas in 2001.  He served as Supervisor in the financial industry and as a business owner before pursuing his passion of being an educator.

In 2008 he got into education as a 6th - 8th grade special education teacher in Johns Creek, Georgia.  He served there for two years before he and his family moved back to Dallas, Tx. to support the community that they loved so much.  He taught as a 6th grade and 8th grade math teacher at Fred F. Florence middle school.  While there he was part of a team of educators that accelerated math passing percentage scores by 28%.  After 4 years of teaching at Florence he was promoted to the position of Math Instructional Coach at Lenore Kirk Hall Elementary in Oak Cliff.  There he led the math educators in improving the campus math passing percentage scores by 18% points in one year and going from 1 distinction to 4 distinctions in a two year span.  After two years he went back to Fred F. Florence to rebrand it as a the Young Men's Leadership Academy @ Fred F. Florence as the math instructional coach.   While there he was able to lead the 8th grade math team by increasing their passing percentage scores by 27% points while also having 100% of scholars passing Algebra 1 with 54% of those scholars exhibiting mastery as defined by state standards.  

This same year Mr. Thomas had graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership.  Two months after graduation he was promoted to be an Assistant Principal at Annie Webb Blanton Elementary where he was part of the team to maintain and increase the culture of the campus.  During his time over the prior two years he was part of the team that wrote the proposal for Solar Preparatory School for Boys and had the privilege of opening the school and establishing the groundwork for what the campus would become.  He served as Assistant Principal there for two years before having the honor to serve as the Principal at Adelle Turner Elementary.

Mr. Thomas believes in building scholars academically but has a major focus on character, culture, and community.  He understands that one person may start a movement but a community maintains it.  He is looking forward to building a community of scholars, educators, parents, and business partners that are about developing the whole child and assuring that ALL scholars have the opportunity to be successful, no matter their backgrounds.  

Assistant Principal: Mr. Jonathon Pegues

Phone: (972) 794-7102

Email: jpegues@dallasisd.org

Mr. Pegues was born in Elkhart, Indiana and raised in Batesville, MS.  He attended the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss… To The Top) where he received his bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.  Mr. Pegues taught 2nd and 3rd grade for 6 ½ years in the great state of Mississippi.  He and his beautiful wife decided to make a move to Texas the summer of 2016 where Mr. Pegues began working for Frisco ISD as a 5th grade ELAR teacher.  While there Mr. Pegues also taught 4th and 5th grade math/science and attended SMU to receive my masters degree in Educational Leadership.  In 2019-2020 he worked for RISD as an Instructional Coach/ Math Specialist. 

Now his educational journey has led him to the Solar Preparatory School for Boys. This is his home and what a wonderful place to be. Mr. Pegues am blessed with the opportunity to guide our next generation of boys and help grow their abilities to match their hopes and dreams.  He will work to cultivate leaders that are filled with empathy, inclusion, love, and togetherness.  He aspires to be the best assistant principal and person he can be for the students, teachers, and families of Solar Boys.  Mr. Pegues cares not only about their academic growth but about their overall growth as young men in our world today.  Mr. Pegues been put on this earth to love and serve and is excited to provide the best service to our school.

Solar Boys… To the Top!

Assistant Principal: Ms. Shannon Smith

Phone: (972) 794-7163

Email: shansmith@dallasisd.org

Ms. Smith supports our teachers and administration with curriculum and instruction. She grew up in Maryland with her three sisters. Ms. Smith graduated from Penn State, where she majored in Human Development and Family Studies. In 2014, she moved to Dallas, Texas with Teach for America where she fell in love with education, and more specifically teaching struggling readers to love literature.  Ms. Smith's next chapter began when she joined the Teaching Trust Aspiring Leaders Program in 2017 where she learned about leadership in urban schools. In her first two years she grew as a reading Instructional Coach at J.N. Ervin where her school earned a state distinction in reading.

Ms. Smith enjoys reading, coffee, and being active. She also loves spending time with her family, no matter the distance between them. Ms. Smith is beyond excited to continue to lead and grow alongside the Solar Prep Boys team as we serve the Dallas Community!

Instructional Coach: Mr. Andrew Caballero

Phone: 

Email: 

Mr. Caballero grew up in Riverside, CA and attended the University of California Irvine where he majored in History. In 2013, he joined Teach for America and was placed in the Dallas region at Balch Springs Middle School. Mr. Caballero taught 7^th grade English Language Arts and Reading for 3 years and fell in love with supporting students’ growth as a reader and a writer. 

In 2016 Mr. Caballero joined the KIPP network as a High School Support Manager where he counseled 9^th and 10^th grade students on their pathway to college. In 2018, because he missed being around students every day, he returned to the 7^th grade classroom at my old campus, now converted to a single gender girls school. At the newly named Young Women’s STEAM Academy, Mr. Caballero honed his craft and practices while embracing the transformative model of single gender education. Now his journey brings me to Solar Preparatory School for Boys! 

In his free time Mr. Caballero enjoys reading and watching movies! His is also a huge sports fan and will watch and play as much as he can. Mr. Caballero is incredibly thankful to be a part of the Solar family and is so excited to help our teachers and boys excel and grow to new heights!