Some of FWISD’s middle schools consolidated this year. Here’s how one campus is faring.
In the one month following the Fort Worth Independent School District’s first day of school, some of its middle school campuses have been adjusting to a larger student population in light of the district closing its sixth-grade campuses and placing those students alongside seventh- and eighth-graders. Reactions from school leaders and parents from one of those schools, Wedgwood Middle, has yielded a mix of both excitement and concerns.
Wedgwood Middle School in southwest Fort Worth was one of the first to take on the task of consolidation after district officials announced in March that the neighborhood’s sixth-grade campus would be closing in a “strategic move aligned with its facility planning.” This came against the backdrop of an anticipated budget deficit and declining student enrollment. Officials stated it was “no longer feasible” to dedicate a single campus to only one grade and made the decision during an ongoing school building capacity study and facility master plan. The capacity study was to include “rightsizing recommendations,” which has been interpreted as possible school closures.
As the students adjust to a different school environment, Principal Stanley Johnson is adjusting alongside them. He was a high school administrator for more than a decade before pivoting to the middle school world in the 2023-24 school year at Wedgwood, he said. The transition has included lots of listening to teachers who have the middle school experience, so he can manage the campus accordingly. The biggest obstacle so far this school year has been doing a fire drill while directing more than 700 students and almost 100 staff members out of just three doors, Johnson said.
The Thursday before the first day of school, families were able to walk the campus when picking up their child’s school schedule to familiarize themselves with the space, Johnson said. He noted seeing excitement from families who got to be part of the first cohort of sixth grade.
“We had a good showing,” Johnson said of the schedule pick-up and campus walk-through. “First day of school, it was all about logistics. Just making sure kids knew how to get around… besides parents who needed to come in for any type of enrollment issues, I thought it was a pretty good first day.”
Although there’s opportunity for the grades to intermingle during electives, such as choir or band, each grade typically sticks to the same area of the school during the day for their core classes, Johnson said. The more than 200 newcomers to Wedgwood Middle, who outnumber their older peers, appear to be settling in well, even with the limited space in the hallways amid ongoing construction, Johnson said.
“Sixth-graders are the largest (class,)” he said. “We had space in the building for it. It’s just that with the construction, it does make it a challenge, but we do have the space in the building. It’s going to be even better once construction opens up… Our main hallway is about four or five feet wide, but we’re still making it happen.”
Renovations and new construction are underway at the school with a $61.7 million budget. There will be three building additions with classroom and science lab extensions, a new media center, new front offices and more. The construction is being funded through a $1.2 billion bond program approved by voters in by a slim margin in 2021, which focuses on the district’s aging middle schools. The original bond plan was to do renovations of all district middle schools, but with the closure of sixth-grade campuses, some of the money has shifted toward consolidations instead. The change has sparked strong reactions from parents and community members, with some stating they felt the change to be unaligned with the will of the voters, and others noting that spending the money on consolidation would make more financial sense if the smaller campuses were on the road to closure in the future.
Yessica Duran, a Wedgwood Middle parent of a seventh-grader, told the Star-Telegram this week that she was concerned about the confined hallway space as her stepdaughter Delilah has experienced issues with trying to get through crowded areas while walking to class. Delilah has also noted other issues with air conditioning in her choir class and in the gym, in addition to water fountains not working.
“I just feel like (the campus) wasn’t prepared for this many students, in my opinion,” Duran said. “I went here, and it was seventh and eighth grade. I think it was a lot better. The merge kind of threw me off.”
Esmeralda Gonzalez, whose son Nick is in sixth grade at Wedgwood Middle, said Nick’s had a positive experience at campus so far, even as a newcomer to the Wedgwood area where he’s had to make new friends. Although he’s been doing well there, Gonzalez said she felt there’s been some disorganization when trying to communicate with staff and administration.
“So far, he has nothing but good things to say when he gets home from school,” she said of her son.
Sarah Coddington, who teaches sixth- and seventh-grade science at Wedgwood, was one of about 10 teachers who previously taught at the sixth-grade campus before transferring to the middle school campus with the students this school year. She said her transition has gone well overall, minus a few hiccups with moving supplies from one place to another and getting them to the correct classrooms.
She told the Star-Telegram how the transition from fifth grade to sixth grade is a notable change for students who have to learn a different school structure with more independence and various expectations depending on their teachers. She’s gotten to teach some of the same students she had last year as sixth-graders who are now in seventh, which has created a sense of familiarity among her and those students she already knows.
“I think this has been really good for the community to see we’re back together. I went to Wedgwood, so when I got back on campus, it was like, ‘Oh, OK, I’m back on old turf.’ And now, as a teacher, it’s nice to see, again, the community and see the houses that are coming to our school versus separation of the two zones,” Coddington said.
