Fort Worth ISD school board to discuss superintendent’s performance amid public pressure
Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s performance will be discussed in a closed session on Tuesday after the Fort Worth Independent School District’s board called a special meeting amid recent pressure from community leaders to revamp the district’s academic performance.
The 5:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday comes three weeks after Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker sent a letter to school board members — co-signed by every City Council member, three former Fort Worth mayors and multiple philanthropic leaders — calling on the district to fix its lack of progress and citing a decade of stagnant state test scores that trail behind other urban Texas school districts. Ramsey and school board President Roxanne Martinez released statements in response saying they were committed to partnering with city leaders to strengthen Fort Worth’s public education system, acknowledging the need to improve its current level of academic achievement.
There is no vote expected to take place on Tuesday, only discussion in closed session, according to district officials. It’s unclear whether officials will reveal any information about what was discussed in closed session before adjourning the meeting. If any changes were to be made to Ramsey’s contract, the board would have to vote on them. Previously, the board has approved vague motions after returning from closed-session evaluations of the superintendent, declining to reveal information until the following day.
Ramsey’s most recent evaluation was two months ago in July, and the board released a statement the following day saying she had received a $15,000 performance bonus in a close vote of 5-4. The bonus was the lowest amount she could receive, according to her contract. The board’s statement at the time said she was awarded the bonus after meeting the key performance indicators listed in her contract. When the Star-Telegram made open records requests asking for the data showing the indicators were met, district officials sent the requests to the Attorney General’s Office for review.
Ramsey, who joined the district in September 2022, earns $335,000 a year, and her contract ends in July 2026. In general, the possible actions that could be taken on Ramsey’s contract — through mutual agreement — are reassignment to a different position in the district, a salary adjustment or contract termination, according to the document. A dismissal for good cause could happen if the board determines Ramsey failed to fulfill her duties as outlined in her contract; Ramsey also has the option to resign “without penalty” through a written resignation to the board and with the board’s consent.
The board also has the duty to address “substantive criticisms, complaints, and suggestions called to the Board’s attention to the Superintendent for review and appropriate action,” her contract states. This refers to alleged wrongdoing such as possible criminal behavior or “complaints about personnel which, if true, would require action by the superintendent and/or administration.” The board has the right to investigate complaints about the superintendent.
The Tuesday meeting also comes a week after the district released its self-calculated A-F accountability scores for its campuses, with estimates showing that about 16,000 fewer students are attending D- or F-rated schools this year. The scores are primarily based on the results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam, or STAAR, in addition to the closure of performance gaps among various student groups and the amount of academic growth seen over the school year.
The district released its own scores after the Texas Education Agency was blocked from releasing them statewide due to a court order issued days before the state was scheduled to issue them. District officials calculated the scores based on the state’s scoring rubric, following the lead of several other Texas districts, but it did not confirm its calculations with TEA, according to an agency spokesperson. The district issued itself a “C” rating this year based off of a 8-point improvement that raised it from the previous year’s “D” rating, which was also an in-house calculation.
During a school board meeting last Tuesday, the board heard a presentation from Deputy Superintendent of Learning and Leading Mohammed Choudhury about accountability ratings. Board member Camille Rodriguez noted how she feels changes in administration and a focus on Tier 1 learning are the reasons campuses with longtime principals have seen improvement in their accountability scores.
“We are headed in the right direction. We are nowhere close to being happy, but I am positive in how we’re going — the direction we’re going,” Rodriguez said.
Board member Wallace Bridges asked Choudhury about how the district is moving the needle academically for African-American students. Choudhury acknowledged the student group is not making the progress needed overall but said there were examples at high-performing schools of double-digit gains in certain subjects. When asked why African-American students weren’t moving at the same pace as other student groups, Choudhury said it’s because of “the legacy of the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
“So much of the feedback that I get from parents is that’s their biggest concern: That we are not doing what we need to do when it comes to African-American students,” Bridges said, noting that parents are moving their children to other schools in the area as a result. “I guarantee you that’s where a lot of our loss is coming from… I could almost record this conversation from a year ago, and It’s almost like I’m hearing the same thing.”
Public comment will be allowed before the closed session at Tuesday’s meeting, which will be held at the administration building at 7060 Camp Bowie Blvd.
This story was originally published September 16, 2024 at 2:31 PM.
