Meeting on Keller ISD split was planned to be public, but someone changed their mind
Update: This story has been updated to include the district’s response to the records request for the meeting’s list of attendees.
Someone on the Keller school board or in the district administration chose to limit the public’s access to a February meeting on splitting the district, despite public calls for more transparency.
A Feb. 5 committee meeting to discuss the split was originally planned to be livestreamed, according to emails obtained by the Star-Telegram.
In an email sent to school board President Charles Randklev, Vice President Jon Birt and Secretary Joni Shaw Smith on Jan. 22, former Superintendent Tracy Johnson wrote the meeting “will be livestreamed but only committee members may attend.”
But sometime before the meeting, the decision to livestream it was reversed, and only invited committee members were allowed to attend. This did not sit well with some district residents who showed up to protest the meeting outside the Keller Education Center.
The email was obtained by a resident of the district through an open records request and shared with the Star-Telegram.
Smith verified the email in a text message, but said she did not know who made the decision to revoke the livestream option. She said she emailed the other recipients, as well as interim superintendent Cory Wilson, to request this and other information about the Feb. 5 meeting, but did not receive a response.
Johnson, Wilson, Randklev and Birt did not respond to requests for comment.
On Jan. 23, Randklev responded to Johnson’s email, saying, “It was my understanding per our previous discussion this would be staff-led.”
The committee was originally to be called the “Committee for District Reshaping,” but Randklev wrote that the name needed to “be broader since these discussions touch on multiple elements related to school finance and potential solutions for solving budget issues.”
This was because the meeting was to include reports on the budget and the financial impact of the split that were presented at the Jan. 30 school board meeting, according to Randklev’s email.
The committee ended up being called the Superintendent Special Projects Committee.
His email also reveals that Johnson was scheduled to give a “budget 101 presentation” at the Jan. 30 meeting, but she ultimately did not attend.
The board was set to vote on her removal at that meeting. It tabled that vote, but still named Wilson interim superintendent that night.
Concerned parents and other residents began calling for more transparency in the process to split Keller ISD after news of it leaked in early January. Fort Worth City council member Charlie Lauersdorf confirmed to the Star-Telegram at that time that a member of the school board said they initially wanted to keep the proposal under wraps in order to avoid a public outcry.
First Amendment and freedom of information lawyers told the Star-Telegram in January that the board’s discussion of the proposal during an executive session at the Dec. 19 school board meeting likely violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
On the day of a special school board meeting on Jan. 16, Keller ISD parent Matthew Mucker filed a lawsuit against the school board seeking an injunction and alleging unlawful discussion of a proposal to split the district in two.
A legal task force created by a north Fort Worth homeowners association joined that lawsuit March 3, represented by the Fort Worth-based Kelly Hart & Hallman.
District residents who have submitted public records requests for the list of attendees to the Feb. 5 meeting have told the Star-Telegram that the district said it found no responsive records to those requests. One resident shared photos of security personnel holding the list.
The Star-Telegram requested the list and attached the photos on Feb. 21. The Texas Public Information Act requires government entities to respond to records requests within 10 business days. Friday, March 7, marked 10 days since that request was submitted.
After publication, the district responded to the request, saying it “did not maintain” a record of the list.
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM.
