Community members take aim at Fort Worth ISD superintendent, board amid academic concerns
As the Fort Worth Independent School District school board discussed the superintendent’s performance in a closed session on Tuesday, the recent call from community members and local advocates demanding a turnaround of the district’s stagnant academic achievement — and its management — intensified.
Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s performance was discussed privately three weeks after Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, alongside other public officials and philanthropic leaders, sent a letter to school board members outlining their concerns about the district’s state test scores in comparison to other large Texas school districts, calling for a “bold, unified approach” to fix the issue.
Before the school board started its closed session, about 20 people spoke during public comment, with many taking aim at Ramsey, directly and indirectly. Others said the district’s issues were bigger than Ramsey, and it would be unfair to put all the blame on her.
“I welcome the opportunity to engage in a discussion about our progress as it is important to ensure we remain aligned in our commitment to student success,” Ramsey said in a statement before the meeting.
There was no vote made when the board returned from closed session, and no specifics of the discussion were shared. Board President Roxanne Martinez told reporters after the meeting that she was unable “to discuss any personnel issues further.” When asked about her thoughts on Ramsey’s performance, she declined to comment until she discusses it further with the board.
“That’s an important discussion that we’re having amongst our board members and with our community, and that’s about all I can share,” she said. “I just want to reassure our parents, our students, our families and our community stakeholders that we will keep our students first and foremost at the top of our interest, and that we are here for our students and our staff and our families. We’ll continue to work hard to ensure that Fort Worth ISD is a place where all of our students can succeed.”
Amanda Inay, Ale Checka and Michael O’Brien — who have each been awarded as campus or district teacher of the year since the 2017-18 school year — respectively spoke out about retaliatory conduct from Ramsey, teachers and principals leaving the district due to ineffective policies, and issues around missing technology and new learning materials given to teachers at the last minute.
“This feels like year one all over again because of the massive failures, inane requirements and mismanaged direction coming from this administration,” said O’Brien, who’s been teaching for 16 years. “Mayor Parker was right to come into this room and express the community’s dissatisfaction with you… . Education is about people, the kids and the teachers, but Fort Worth ISD has forgotten that. It’s time for change. Let’s move on.”
Members of Parent Shield Fort Worth, an education advocacy group, held a press conference outside the district’s administration building before the meeting to outline the group’s own list of demands, including significant academic improvement, specifically for Black students who’ve seen declining test scores; literacy reform with every student being able to read on or above grade level by third grade; the release of literacy data and reporting scores in a manner that is accessible and easy to understand; and investment in “high-dosage” interventions to increase literacy rates. These one-hour interventions are broken down by a warm-up of previously learned skills, explicit instruction on a specific skill such as sounding out words, guided practice on the newly learned skill like using vocabulary words in a simple sentence, independent practice allowing the child to cultivate the skill on their own and a final wrap up reviewing the highlights of the session.
Parent Shield executive director Trenace Dorsey-Hollins noted that Mayor Parker’s comments came forward after many community members and organizations went to the City Council to garner support in pushing for changes at the school district. When asked about Ramsey’s performance, Dorsey-Hollins said was unsatisfied with it.
“Tonight’s sign is a sign of hope. Hopefully district trustees are going to do the changes that our kids need. We know that scores for African-American students have been continuing to decline every year, and we want a leader, whoever is sitting in that seat, to really put some priority on our Black students,” she said. “Regardless of who’s sitting in this seat, I think that’s up to the trustees to go in here and make the decision. But that’s their only employee, and we want them to really make sure that they’re holding that person accountable, so that our kids are increasing and heading in the right direction. We have literally ¾ of the students in Fort Worth ISD not on grade level. That’s unacceptable.”
In defense of Ramsey, community member and mother of six Fort Worth ISD graduates Reed Bliz said she felt the blame was put on the superintendent now that the ongoing issues of the district are in the spotlight, calling it “blatantly unfair.”
“Dr. Ramsey has brought you extensive reports, charts and graphs of the progress of students in the Fort Worth ISD. Parents and teachers have complained to you about myriad deficiencies in academics,” she said. “I ask that you work with Dr Ramsey and her staff immediately to seek solutions and implement them. Playing the blame game does not help anyone.”
Alex Jimenez — a board member of Rocketship Public Schools, former vice president of TXU Energy and former chairman of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce — brought charts for board members showing historical test data for the district’s third-grade reading scores from the Commit Partnership. In the past nine years, the district has seen limited improvements and dips in the percentage of these students meeting grade level for reading; When comparing the 2014 school year with the 2023 school year, there was only a 1% improvement with the latest data showing 30% of third-graders meeting this mark.
In addition to pointing out the historical testing woes seen in the district, Jimenez also called out board members who he claims had “tried to sell schools to people when the schools are not for sale,” attempted to garner support from east Fort Worth residents to replace Ramsey and had appointed someone to a district oversight committee who didn’t live in their district. He did not specify their names.
“The superintendent might not be the problem,” Jimenez, who signed onto Mayor Parker’s letter, said. “Those are shenanigans, and that’s been going on for too long. You board members need to stop that crap.”
The Tuesday meeting was called a week after the district released its own A-F accountability scores for itself and its campuses, which are typically released by the Texas Education Agency and heavily based on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam, or STAAR. Fort Worth ISD followed suit of other districts that calculated their own scores after TEA was prevented from releasing them last month amid a pending lawsuit and court order. Fort Worth ISD gave itself a C rating this year based on the state’s scoring rubric, an improvement from the previous year’s D rating that was also calculated independently, but the district did not confirm its calculations with TEA. The district’s last official rating issued from the state was a B in 2022.
Ramsey’s last performance review was in July, when she received a $15,000 performance bonus, the lowest amount she could receive in accordance with her contract. The board said at that time that Ramsey was meeting key performance indicators outlined in her contract. She earns a $335,000 annual salary, and her contract with the district expires in July 2026. She was hired in September 2022.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 8:28 AM.
