Fort Worth ISD Trustee Wallace Bridges resigns as district loses takeover appeal
Fort Worth Independent School District Trustee Wallace Bridges is resigning from the school board after the district lost its appeal challenging a state takeover from the Texas Education Agency.
Bridges confirmed his decision to the Star-Telegram on Friday, stating that he could no longer make a difference as a board member with the state takeover becoming official. On Thursday, a panel of administrative law judges issued an order granting TEA’s request to dismiss the case.
The order is final and can’t be appealed, paving the way for state officials to appoint a board of managers to replace the school board and also continue a nationwide superintendent search. A TEA spokesperson said the timeline is unclear on how soon the appointments will happen, as the agency is still reviewing applications. A formal order with an analysis from the judge panel will be released within 30 days.
“At the end of the day, once the state took over, you really don’t have a voice. You’re really just kind of sitting there twiddling your thumbs,” Bridges said. “It defeats the purpose of why I wanted to be on the board: to be able to address concerns from the community that I serve.”
“I got involved with running for school board because I thought there was local control, but that is slowly being pulled away through these different initiatives and mandates. And a lot of unfunded mandates that are coming down from the state,” he added.
Bridges’ resignation is effective immediately from the nine-member board. He served as a trustee for District 4 for almost four years and assumed the position after the death of his predecessor, Daphne Brookins. Bridges said he took pride in being a mouthpiece for his constituents and advocating for Black and African-American students who have historically been overlooked as a student group by education leaders.
“I came to the table pushing those type of things, and I feel good that something that I felt wasn’t really talked about a lot, that it was something that I ran on. And I was very consistent in continuing to address that,” Bridges said, saying it was a pleasure and honor to serve as a trustee.
Board President Roxanne Martinez and Trustees Kevin Lynch and Michael Ryan confirmed to the Star-Telegram on Friday that they were not resigning alongside Bridges. Martinez said she was unaware of any other trustees who were stepping down in light of the news.
Trustees Camille Rodriguez, Tobi Jackson, Quinton “Q” Phillips, Anne Darr and Anael Luebanos did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
District officials and community members have been in limbo for the past nine months leading up to the final decision on the takeover. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath notified the district of potential state intervention last May after the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade received five F ratings in a row from TEA. This triggered a state law that required Morath to either close the campus or replace the school board with an appointed board of managers, but Fort Worth ISD had already closed it.
As the district exhausted its avenues for appeals since Morath’s initial warning last May, state officials have collected applications for board of managers and superintendent candidates. There were 286 applications submitted for the board of managers, according to TEA.
A state conservator was also appointed to the district amid the appeals processes. The conservator, Christopher Ruszkowski, has overseen turnaround plans for struggling schools and the actions of district leaders since assuming the role in November.
Staff writers Emily Holshouser and Samuel O’Neal contributed to this report.
