Parents, students tell board that splitting Keller ISD would gut resources for many
Students and parents let the Keller ISD school board know Thursday night how they feel about the contentious proposal to split the district.
Julien Hernandez-Nava, a freshmen at Keller Collegiate Academy, said he and his friends feel the board’s proposal is unreasonable.
Julien said they don’t have any power to stop it, and know many students, especially those who are financially unstable, will suffer the most.
Julien takes classes at Keller Center for Advanced Learning and wants to become a physical therapist, but that opportunity might vanish if the split goes through.
“I don’t like to get into politics and all this stuff but once I found out that I would be possibly split from my friends, my campus, everything I’ve kind of worked for, I just wanted to speak out,” Julien said. “I wanted to stop this so I could continue my school venture with my friends, and my teachers that have taught me so much.”
Julien was among the standing room only crowd at the meeting — 210 people signed up to speak, almost double the number who signed up at a Jan. 16 meeting — at the district’s Education Center.
The proposal to split of the school district has created headaches for parents, as well as county and city leaders.
While the school board has not said how the district would be split, the consensus among the public is that the battle line would form along Denton Highway (U.S. 377). The west side of the highway is where 27 of the district’s 42 schools are located, mostly in Fort Worth. Most of the schools on the east side of the highway are in Keller.
Lakisha Constante was one of the few parents of color to show up at the meeting, felt the reason for the split was related to class and race. She and her family live in the Villages of Woodland Springs, west of Denton Highway, where she has two children in Keller ISD and one who has graduated.
She and her youngest son watched the Jan. 16 meeting and she was inspired by how many non-native English speakers spoke during the public comment period.
But what truly pushed her was when her 8-year-old son turned to her and, “Why are you not being a voice for me and my brother”?
“When your kids call you to action, you gotta speak up,” Constante said.
Constante says she feels the board has been secretive about their plans to split the school district and wants more transparency. She is afraid a split would decrease her property value and the quality of education for her children.
Her oldest daughter participated in a program at Keller Center for Advanced Learning and wants to be an attorney. The school is located east of Denton Highway, and her son wants to follow — but it’s not clear if that would be possible if the split happens.
The school offers 34 programs such as plumbing, engineering, and health science where students across the district can take classes.
Her concerns mirror those those of many families who live on the west side of the school district.
Three board members discussed a plan to split the district during a closed meeting in December but the plan did not become public until January when a Fort Worth city council member spoke out about the proposal.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie posted about the school board split on X calling it a “major decision that will impact thousands of families, and the way it is rolling out is unacceptable.”
Elizabeth Hernandez-Nava, Julien’s mother, said Thursday’s meeting did not make it clear what exactly will happen if the school district splits. She was proud to see her son speak up in front on the school board.
“Yeah, they’re kids, but they’re the ones that are going to ultimately be affected by this,” Elizabeth Hernandez-Nava said. “So I think it’s important to listen to what the kids have to say, and especially for those families that have younger kids that are going to be coming up into the schools that are going to be affected.”
Commissioner Alisa Simmons attended Thursday night’s meeting and told the Star Telegram that it’s apparent many people don’t want the split, and if it reaches Tarrant County Commissioners Court she will listen to the people and vote for what the people want.
“We are elected to serve the people, not to do what we want to do,” Simmons said.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 11:44 PM.
