Keller ISD students planning walkout to protest proposal to split school district
The Keller school board has had its say. Parents and residents have had theirs. Now it’s time for the “primary stakeholders,” as one Keller teenager put it, to make their voices heard.
On Feb. 7, Keller students are expected to walk out of their classrooms at 9:40 a.m. — just before daily attendance is taken — to protest a board proposal to break the school district in half, using Denton Highway as an east-west dividing line. The move is seen by many as an attempt by certain trustees to detach the relatively less affluent and more racially diverse west side of the district from the east. The plan has been opposed by an overwhelming majority of parents, students, teachers and residents at recent school board meetings.
Timing is everything in Friday’s planned walkout. Texas school districts receive state funding based on average daily attendance, and a large number of students leaving before roll is taken could potentially affect that.
Who is behind it?
The walkout is being led by the Keller Student Activism Organization with support from Sunrise Tarrant, a community activist organization focused on climate and educational policy reform.
Among the students, Keller High School sophomore Heath Shiflett has been one of the most vocal opponents of the district split. He spoke out against the plan at a Jan. 30 school board meeting, and in recent days he’s been organizing his fellow students at Keller High School, Central High School, Timber Creek High School and Fossil Ridge High School for the walkout. Central, Timber Creek and Fossil Ridge are in the city of Fort Worth.
What students are saying
“There are three prevailing attitudes,” Shiflett said when asked how students felt. “There’s obvious outrage. There are those of us who are going to do whatever we can to prevent this split. Other students are worried, but they don’t want to risk their skin, which I understand. Then there are those who don’t want to take any risks, but they want to mock those of us who do. Those are the cynics.”
There wasn’t a hint of cynicism in Shiflett’s voice when he spoke passionately to the board a week ago, imploring members to put the split plan to a public vote instead of moving ahead with the proposal unilaterally.
“My biggest grievance is that this is a clear overreach of power,” he said. “I don’t want people with a history of mismanagement and a comical lack of oversight leading this split. If we split — and I think Keller is far stronger together — but if we split, I want people I trust leading it.”
When asked if he thought the walkout will have an impact on the board’s decision making, Shiflett was optimistic. He’s paid close attention in history class and is taking lessons from the civil rights activists of the 1960s. In Shiflett’s mind, a multitude of voices can’t be ignored. He pointed to last year’s uproar over the district’s decision to forbid Timber Creek High School’s theater department from staging “The Laramie Project,” a play about Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was murdered in a 1998 hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming. The board’s decision was overturned after students and parents challenged it.
“I can tell they’re scared,” Shiflett said of the trustees. “They folded like chairs when Timber Creek pushed back against “The Laramie Project” ban.
Because of that history, Shiflett said Timber Creek students are already mobilized against the board of trustees. Mobilizing students at Keller High School, which lies on the east side of the district, has proven somewhat more difficult, said Shiflett.
“The mood on the west side is outrage; the attitude here is apathy.”
Regardless, Shiflett expects students to follow his lead on Friday morning and leave their classes in solidarity. It’s difficult to predict, though, how many will participate.
“It’s either going to be pathetic or it’s going to powerful,” said Shiflett. “There could be 100 kids who walk out, there could be 2,000.”
Will teachers take part?
As far as parent and teacher involvement in the walkout, Shiflett and his classmates are discouraging them from participating. He said as soon as adults show up to a demonstration like this, it appears to outside observers like they were the ones who planned it.
“I want to be clear,” Shiflett said, “this was thought up by kids and promoted by students.”
A Keller school district official has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Petitions
More petitions are circulating on the change.org site concerning the Keller ISD potential split. Two moms launched petitions asking for a vote on the split in January.
Another petition with over 300 signatures since Tuesday calls for school board president Charles Randklev to resign, along with trustees John Birt, Micah Young Chris Coker and Heather Washington. The petition states that the board members’ plan to split the district is based on poor judgment, undue influence from campaign contributors and a disregard of the financial impacts of a division of the school district.
The trustees are also accused of violating the Open Meetings Act. Another petition demands that Tarrant County commissioner Matt Krause recuse himself from decisions concerning the split. He has said he won’t block a split if the issue comes before the Commissioners Court.
Another asks trustees supporting the split to stay away from the high school graduations. “This is our moment to celebrate, and and their values do not reflect the traditions we cherish.” The students also don’t want the trustees’ names on their diplomas.
“Our achievements belong to us, our teachers, and our families — not to those trying to divide us.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 11:45 AM.