Fort Worth ISD teachers speak out as school board decides superintendent’s fate
As the Fort Worth Independent School District board is poised to consider action on Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s contract on Tuesday, some current and former teachers have spoken out about obstacles and unpleasant experiences they’ve had during Ramsey’s two-year tenure, while others have offered support for the superintendent.
The school board last week held a closed session to discuss Ramsey’s performance, but took no action and released no details about what was discussed. During public comment, teachers and community members shared a range of thoughts on Ramsey’s leadership, the state of the district in general, and what steps they believe should be taken going forward. This came a few weeks after Mayor Mattie Parker sent a letter to school board members and publicly spoke about how the district needs to fix its stagnant state test scores and improve its student performance and achievement. Now, possible changes to Ramsey’s contract could come forward on Tuesday amid some community members calling for her removal.
While many focused criticism last week on what they saw as a lack of movement under Ramsey’s leadership, some community members argued that the blame of ongoing district issues has been pinned unfairly onto Ramsey now that there’s a brighter spotlight on the district. United Educators Association Executive Director Steven Poole told KXAS-TV that although district teachers want leadership improvements, urban superintendents don’t seem to be given enough time to achieve progress.
“It takes five years to turn around the school district, but urban superintendents only last three,” he told the news outlet. “”I’ve been hearing from a lot of teachers who have been really frustrated for a while with the direction the district’s going. Can it all be placed at the feet of Dr. Ramsey? Not necessarily so, but she’s also the superintendent.”
Notable teachers who have served or currently are serving the district have aired their frustrations ranging from disorganized and dysfunctional school environments to “toxic” behavior from higher-ups. Current teachers Ale Checka and Michael O’Brien, in addition to former teacher Amanda Inay, each spoke publicly at last Tuesday’s school board meeting and spoke individually to the Star-Telegram to elaborate on their concerns. Checka and Inay were each awarded district teacher of the year in 2017-18 and 2022-23, respectively. O’Brien was awarded campus teacher of the year for 2017-18.
“While we value all perspectives, it’s important to note that the views expressed by the teachers who spoke at the recent board meeting do not necessarily represent the experiences of our broader teaching community,” district spokesperson Toni Cordova said in a statement. “Fort Worth ISD employs over 5,000 dedicated teachers, and many have had positive experiences working within the district.”
Checka started teaching in Fort Worth ISD in 2008, with a one-year intermission to attend graduate school, and currently teaches high-school level English and on-level English to eighth-graders at Applied Learning Academy. She described Fort Worth ISD as being in “disarray” and cited the lack of a strategic plan as an example of this trend continuing in the future.
“The level of disarray and dysfunction that we are experiencing right now, it touches almost every department, and it is just not comparable to what we have experienced with past superintendents,” Checka said.
Checka pointed to issues with technology and student laptops where problems that came about and were reported last school year continued into the current school year, as it appeared that no repairs had been done over the summer, she said.
Cordova said “several new initiatives” geared toward improving instruction and operational efficiencies have been implemented under Ramsey’s leadership, and the district is committed to addressing problems in a timely manner while maintaining a productive environment across all of its departments.
When comparing Ramsey to previous Superintendent Kent Scribner, Checka feels like input from the community and teachers has not been taken seriously under Ramsey’s administration.
“I didn’t always agree with Dr. Scribner when it came to literacy, but I felt that he hired people that really were passionate about literacy, were knowledgeable about it, and that it involved teachers in partnership. That is just not the case (now),” Checka said.
Checka wants it to be known that she takes pride in working for Fort Worth ISD, her principal and her campus and enjoys interacting with students and families. But she wants district leadership to be held accountable and thinks a change needs to be made. She hopes that if a search were to be conducted for a new superintendent, someone with institutional knowledge of Fort Worth ISD would take over in the interim.
“I want somebody who has a lot of backbone, but I want somebody who has a respect for education as a profession, and to view teachers as professionals. I want someone who really views parents as partners,” Checka said.
O’Brien, another teacher, also noted how inefficient it has been to fix technology problems since the district laid off several IT personnel in February. The district at the time said the cuts were necessary due to the loss of federal COVID-19 relief funding, but records later obtained by the Star-Telegram showed a large portion of the cut positions were not funded through the relief money. There’s currently an IT help desk, O’Brien said, but it’s unpredictable how long a teacher could be on hold before they get in touch with someone.
“You would waste an entire planning period just being on hold and probably still not get in touch with somebody. Even if you do get through, how long is it going to be before something actually gets done about it?” he said.
Cordova said the district is continuing to address technology needs, which includes distributing devices.
“We are aware of some challenges and have implemented an enhanced system to streamline the reporting and resolution of tech-related issues,” Cordova said.
O’Brien is in his 11th year of teaching in Fort Worth ISD at McLean Sixth Grade Center out of his 16-year career. He said this school year felt like he was starting over again, as a new science curriculum was rolled out while he and his colleagues were given a short amount of time to familiarize themselves with it before students returned to school in the fall. He referred to this experience as an example of the district’s lack of organization.
“We acknowledge that a new curriculum was introduced this year, and while some teachers may have experienced time constraints, our team is working closely with campuses to ensure teachers have the necessary resources and support moving forward,” Cordova said.
O’Brien also voiced concerns about the data-driven instruction model that’s been introduced by Ramsey. He said that the extra paperwork he has to fill out eats away at time that could be used for lesson planning or instructional time.
“If we want to get down into data, I mean the two pieces of data that matter the most to me as a teacher are, ‘Do you have enough teachers?’ and ‘How big are class sizes?’ Because if you can get more teachers in the building and get class sizes down to a respectable level, then a lot of these other quote unquote ‘data-driven initiatives’ would probably take care of themselves,” he said.
In response, Cordova said the district’s use of data-driven models is meant to support student outcomes through instruction, “however, we are mindful of teacher feedback and will continue working to strike a balance between administrative tasks and instructional planning time.”
Supporters call Ramsey ‘a breath of fresh air’
Teachers in support of Ramsey’s leadership also spoke to the Star-Telegram ahead of the Tuesday meeting, calling her “a breath of fresh air” and “a person first” before a superintendent.
Olivia Olalde, a fifth-grade dual-language teacher at Alice Contreras Elementary, has spent 14 years with the district and stayed at the campus for the full time, she said. She was also awarded district teacher of the year for 2020-21. During a district professional development event at TCU where she first heard Ramsey speak, she recalled how the highlights of Ramsey’s speech had resonated with her.
“I heard her talk about her story, how important education was to her, her personal struggle, how dual-language students were something that she held near to her heart. I saw something in her wanting to create change and become someone that really was involved with the community, with the teachers, with the students at all levels,” Olalde said.
Olalde applauded the introduction of the Lexia Core5 reading program under Ramsey’s leadership and how it’s closed the gaps with students who faced obstacles with reading. She also noted how Istation, a different literacy program for Spanish dual-language students, was a newer tool that was brought forward this year. Olalde also spoke positively about the data-driven instruction model, saying that it’s helped her find a balance between creating engaging lessons and targeting educational gaps.
”I think that as a teacher, my number one goal and my job is to make sure that I’m doing what I can in the classroom with the resources that I have. I’ve always felt supported at this campus and supported by the district as well,” she added.
Brax Boyd, a dual-credit government teacher at O.D. Wyatt High, said he feels Ramsey listens wells and takes teacher comments into consideration, which is something teachers want from every administrator. He feels that the policies she’s implemented have taken into account what she’s learned from faculty and administration and have made tasks more organized and time efficient. It’s “unbelievable” how quickly he’s provided with resources when they’re needed, he added.
“She’s done such a good job, and I think the breath of fresh air that she brings to the district was needed,” Boyd said. “I think the district is on task, they’re on par of where we need to be. I don’t know much about the past as far as (STAAR) scoring, but I know where we’re going in the future.”
Former Fort Worth ISD teacher claims toxic environment, leadership
Inay, who served six years in Fort Worth ISD and started teaching for Rocketship Public Schools this year, has spoken out publicly about mistreatment that she says she endured while teaching in Fort Worth ISD, both at the campus level and district level. Her 2023-24 school year at Rufino Mendoza Elementary was a rocky one, she said, calling the school’s work environment toxic and negative.
In her resignation letter to the district, which was provided to the Star-Telegram, Inay said her decision to leave the district was not easy and “comes after the heartbreak of leaving my students, families, and community, but knowing that this is best for my and my family’s overall well being, and my professional future.”
Inay said issues with her campus principal first came about when she voiced concerns about administrators moving the start time of family nights to 4:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., when more families could join after getting off of work. After she brought this complaint forward, Inay said, her next evaluation walk-through that happened the following week resulted in a lower “proficient” rating, versus the “accomplished” or “distinguished” ratings she had received in the previous eight years. Inay claims this rating stemmed from retaliation from Principal Katy Myers.
When Inay voiced these issues to her executive director, Myers appeared to apologize to her but would no longer talk to or acknowledge Inay on campus, Inay said. Additionally, Inay’s elected position on the campus’ Site Based Decision Making Committee, which discusses educational and financial decisions of the school, was taken from her although she had only served one year of her two-year term, she said.
“It just became a very, very negative environment. Every day I would wake up and I would just be in tears, just listening to praise and worship music and just trying to remember what I was doing, which was being there for my kids and my families,” Inay said.
In February of this year, the issues continued to pile on, Inay added. She had a one-on-one meeting with Ramsey about her negative experiences at Rufino Mendoza Elementary, which she felt were left unaddressed. Later that month when the school board approved layoffs but had not yet announced that it was the IT department that was primarily affected, Inay spoke out at the school board meeting advocating on behalf of teachers. She said she was pulled aside during the meeting by Associate Superintendent Charles Garcia and Executive Director Guadalupe Cortez, and Garcia asked her to reiterate her concerns she had voiced to Ramsey. Inay said that after she did, Garcia said, “Dr. Ramsey and I need you on our side.” Inay also alleges Garcia brought up Inay’s previous interest in becoming a literacy coach as a way to solve the issues she had voiced.
The Star-Telegram has reached out to Garcia and Cortez for comment on this through a Fort Worth ISD spokesperson.
From early March to late April, Inay was looking to transfer to other campuses in the district, she said. She had been given two different offers by two principals who later retracted their offers because they said the district had filled the vacancies, she said.
Inay claims she was being “blackballed” before she was hired by a third Fort Worth ISD principal she was in contact with; She would later submit her resignation on May 19. Inay also had filed a DIA complaint — a district policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment against employees — in her final months in Fort Worth ISD against Myers, reporting these concerns and additional ones. Inay said the investigation concluded with no wrongdoing found.
“Regarding the concerns raised by Ms. Inay, the findings were consistent with established protocols of Fort Worth ISD,” Myers told the Star-Telegram. “I invite you to speak to any of my teachers about protocols and to gain additional insights into the working environment and the decisions made.”
In general, Myers wants the north side community to know that Rufino Mendoza Elementary is advocating for the best of its students.
“I am 100% confident that we are on the right trajectory and that we are doing the right work with the right heart,” Myers said.
Cecilia Roman, a third-grade dual-language reading teacher at Rufino Mendoza Elementary, said she feels supported at the campus level and district level and described a experience that contrasts from Inay’s.
“I really think we’re in a very positive climate,” she said. “I really think we are in a place where we all feel safe, and we all feel like we can come and talk to our principal, Katy Myers, or anybody in our administration. We can bring up our concerns, and we will be heard.”
Looking forward, Inay plans to run for Fort Worth ISD’s District 1 school board seat, which is currently held by Camille Rodriguez. Her term expires in 2025, and the election takes place on May 3.
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 4:32 PM.
