Fort Worth schools superintendent has been on the job for one month. How’s she doing?
In her first month at the helm of the Fort Worth school district, Superintendent Angélica Ramsey has visited more than 30 campuses, quelled outbursts from angry parents during a board meeting and ferreted out problems in the district she says need fixing.
Fort Worth Board President Tobi Jackson said the leader is a “rare and special talent” and that there has been “exceptional communication with internal and external stakeholders” during the first month.
But the issues she has identified in just a short time are systemic, and Ramsey said the work is cut out for Fort Worth ISD leaders.
“So far, I’m kind of hearing a lot of the same themes,” Ramsey said. “Really great people, and I mean, an entire community that loves kids, cares about education. But the system not working well together.”
Those observations came from meetings with teachers at over 30 schools, meetings with principals and conversations with representatives from the teachers association.
“I’ve heard loud and clear that we’re probably the best school district in the country at starting new programs, but not necessarily good at implementation,” Ramsey said.
Those issues have been reflected in stories reported by the Star-Telegram over the last year.
But Ramsey said a shift in district culture was already underway when she arrived — and has hope for the future.
District has difficulty implementing programs
Over the past decade, teachers have been introduced to a rotating cast of curricula, interventions and software, frustrating the teaching process and standing in the way of figuring out which programs work, teachers say.
One group who expressed particular frustration were bilingual teachers, who spoke to the Star-Telegram in May about using many different programs over the last decade, including I-Station, MyView, Achieve3000 and Reading Street, all with varying levels of dual language support, and rarely with cohesive guidance on how they fit in with the broader curricula.
Samantha Korn, who spoke to the Star-Telegram at the time, said she has seen rapid and choppy change in the programs, tools and curricula in the time she has been with the district.
“I have never used a program more than three to four years. That’s probably the most that I have used a particular text,” she said. “In terms of computer programs, whether it’s an I-Station or Achieve 3000, or now Lexia, there does tend to be a lot of turnover in those curricula.”
Other teachers said such changes made it difficult to analyze which programs were actually working.
The result, Korn and other teachers said, is a constant learning curve for students and teachers, without ever fully implementing a program before the next one is rolled out.
“I’ve heard a little bit from teachers that we are over-dependent on programs, versus time and energy developing the leadership of our teachers and the capacity of our campus leaders,” Ramsey told the Star-Telegram.
Similar problems led to inconsistent approaches to teaching reading prior to 2019, when the district began an effort to standardize approaches, professional development and curriculum under a new cast of administrators — all of whom are still overseeing that change under Ramsey.
“I’ve heard from our cabinet staff, that that work is underway,” Ramsey said. “So, the leadership… fully understands… where we’ve been, and where we need to go.”
Campus leaders, community members embrace communication
Throughout her time in Fort Worth and in Midland, where she was superintendent prior to joining the Fort Worth district, Ramsey has spent much of her time meeting with teachers, principals and parents.
Jackson, the board president, said she has seen Ramsey “assessing all partnerships to ensure we are providing every opportunity to expand our students’ horizons and education.”
So far, campus leaders approve. After seeing Ramsey at a meeting for principals, North Hi Mount Principal Laura Armstrong told the Star-Telegram that she felt validated by Ramsey’s accessibility.
“She’s not afraid to talk about anything, and that’s … valued,” Armstrong said. “She also explained to us, there’s a lot of layers between principals and her… and she said, if you need something, and you’re not getting answers, just come to me, I’m here for you.”
In a tense first board meeting as superintendent, Ramsey faced a number of public speakers expressing outrage with the district over incidents involving bus drivers dropping kids off at the wrong stop.
The anger spilled over when a parent tried playing an audio recording into a microphone that was cut off, causing parents from the audience to begin yelling. Ramsey and board members approached the parents, and called them into the back to speak with them directly.
During the brief recess, Ramsey invited several parents, including Jeff Williams, into another room to discuss the problem.
Williams said Ramsey, who officially came on as superintendent only a week earlier, told parents that it was the first she’d heard of the problem. Williams said Ramsey offered no excuses for the problem, but took down their information and promised to look into the situation. That’s all parents wanted, he said — someone to hear them out and fix the problem.
“We didn’t need a yelling match,” he said. “We didn’t need anything like that.”
Subsequent meetings have gone smoother, for the most part, although regular critics of the district have continued to use public comment to speak about curriculum, social-emotional learning and other topics.
Not all the comments have been negative, however.
One community member, Wanda McKinney, spoke at a recent school board meeting about Ramsey’s outreach.
“I’m very hopeful and excited about the future for Fort Worth ISD under your leadership,” she said. “I like that you’re meeting with stakeholders individually and collectively in an effort to understand the needs of our students, and how best to address those needs expeditiously.”
Ramsey said that her interactions over the first month leave her optimistic.
“The good news is, they’re ripe and ready,” she said. “I’ve heard loud and clear from our teachers, and really just about everyone, they love their jobs, they love working and helping kids, they’re just ready for some positive change. They feel some hope. And so we need to take that hope into action.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 8:14 AM.
