Fort Worth ISD interim superintendent has led district for over a month. What has she done?
It’s been over a month since Fort Worth ISD’s Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar has transitioned into the interim superintendent position, tasked with turning around the district’s stagnant academic performance amid lingering pressure from a community looking for a fresh start. How has Molinar spent her time as district leader so far?
Molinar was appointed on Oct. 8 by the school board in the aftermath of former Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s resignation, which came shortly after Mayor Mattie Parker, the Fort Worth City Council and several community leaders released a letter calling for a “bold, unified approach” to making Fort Worth ISD “the district of choice for our families.”
Since then, Molinar has presented academic data to the school board and incited urgency in implementing interventions for students who have fallen behind, in addition to connecting with community leaders. The first days on the job consisted of juggling her deputy tasks with the new superintendent tasks while being visible to district staff, she said. Molinar also prioritized engaging with business and community leaders to rebuild those connections with the district, including the United Educators Association, Parent Shield Fort Worth and the NAACP of Fort Worth-Tarrant County.
Among her first orders of business is utilizing about 150 central administration staff members, who currently provide support to teachers and other educators, to visit schools three times a week to also give students support directly in small groups. STAAR, or the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, results and other testing measures were evaluated, as well as campuses’ state accountability scores and existing resources, to identify places in need of the additional help, according to Molinar. The initiative started this week, and the district will be monitoring the expected student growth coming out of it.
“It’s third grade in tested content areas. For middle school, it’s literacy and math as well. For high school, it’s English 1 and Algebra 1, first-time testers. So you’re mostly hitting your ninth-graders on that,” Molinar said of the students receiving the support.
Molinar said it was important for her to keep the district moving rather than taking a pause during her transition. With all eyes on the district’s academic performance, her first presentation to the school board in October as interim superintendent looked at MAP assessment scores from the beginning of the school year broken down by student groups. The data for this school year looked almost identical to last school year, and it showed African-American students and special education students were struggling the most with academic performance. This is when she announced the plans to send central administration staff, who are all certified teachers, to certain campuses.
“I presented data right away to show we’re going to be very focused on data transparency and looking at our student groups because when we’re showing the public, and our external as well as our internal community, what we’re going to be watching and monitoring, then people know that there’s a focus,” she said. “I think it’s really important that if we want to close those gaps, that we’re talking about it and we’re showing the data as well, and then how we’re responding.”
Molinar said she’s also focused on efficiency of district resources and operations. She and her staff are in the process of transferring students at the International Newcomer Academy to a larger, empty campus over the holiday break due to overcrowding at the academy’s current location. Those students will move to the Glencrest Sixth Campus, which has been empty since the sixth-graders were moved to the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Middle. Most of the International Newcomer Academy students live in that area, which should also make the move more efficient in terms of bus routes.
“Our students, almost half of them, have to be in portables because the size of the campus is not large enough to house them inside. When we looked at where the students reside, the majority of them reside around the south side and the O.D. Wyatt pyramid,” Molinar said. “It helps us with efficiency of transportation as well, which is very important for us.”
After 26 years in the school district in various roles, she is serving as interim superintendent for the second time. This time, though, is different. Former Superintendent Kent Scribner had planned ahead when announcing his retirement in January 2022 and committed to staying in the position until a new superintendent was selected. Molinar temporarily took over for roughly a month during the transition and negotiation period leading up to Ramsey’s first day.
“It was really just making sure day-to-day operations were still being taken care of, and really waiting for (Ramsey) to come in the district. This is a little different, of course, because they don’t have a search timeline released yet. This seems already more long-term than the last one, and definitely has given me permission to make changes necessary for our students and our staff,” Molinar said.
Connecting with community leaders
Estella Williams, president of the NAACP of Fort Worth-Tarrant County, said Molinar contacted her first and allowed Williams to voice her concerns about the overall academic performance of the district and for African-American students specifically. Williams said she was hopeful about the central administration staff coaching initiative, but she wants there to be accountability for how staff are tutoring students and whether they’re using appropriate reading materials that align with the science of reading.
“If we’re sending these individuals in to try to make a difference, then those persons should be held to a level of accountability. What are you doing, and not just saying you’re showing up and you’re handing Johnny or Jimmy or Susie a book to say, ‘OK, read,’” Williams said.
The connection to Molinar marks a shift in the NAACP chapter’s relationship with the district, Williams said, as the chapter was “cut off” from previous leadership. She views Molinar’s leadership as an opportunity to rebuild the district with her knowledge of the community and experience in education.
“The plan that she has put in place… it’s an opportunity for things to be achieved. I like the idea that she’s involved the community with what is being attempted,” Williams said. “If we continue to see the level of change and the things that she has already implemented, the things that she’s trying to do, then that is what is needed.”
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, executive director of Parent Shield Fort Worth, had monthly meetings with the previous superintendent and said Molinar contacted her to say those meetings would continue under her tenure. Dorsey-Hollins was glad to see the initiative taken by Molinar to keep the line of communication ongoing, she said. Molinar said it’s important for the district to utilize its relationship with Parent Shield to keep parents informed on what’s happening in the district.
Molinar recently asked Dorsey-Hollins if Parent Shield could help enlist other community organizations to fill more seats in the district’s after-school programs.
“(We’re) just ensuring that some of those nonprofit and community organizations that have felt less valued by the district know that they are indeed valued, and we just want to really solidify that partnership so that our kids can get the assistance that they need,” Dorsey-Hollins said.
At a December board meeting, Molinar said, there will be plans rolled out for facilitating community partnerships focused on supporting campuses or district-wide initiatives.
“People just wanted to be heard and then offer their support and their collaboration,” Molinar said. “The (city as a whole), everyone has been very supportive. They want to lean in, they want to partner. They just need to know how.”
Steven Poole, president of the United Educators Association, said Molinar has stayed consistent with her communication to UEA before and after being appointed, and she’s worked to address the organization’s concerns each time they’re brought up. He’s recently voiced concerns to Molinar about the amount of excessive paperwork teachers have to deal with, which he said she’s addressing.
“She’s very pro-teacher. So anything that can help teachers to be better teachers, she’s going to work on,” Poole said.
Details of a permanent superintendent search process have yet to be released by the school board, but Molinar says she plans to apply for the job. Poole said she should be chosen if she applies.
“We need stability, and we need to normalize relationships in our community because we need our community involved in our schools. Dr. Molinar has started that process,” Poole said. “She has the support of principals and teachers, so why shouldn’t she be the permanent superintendent?”
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 12:07 PM.
