Meet Fort Worth ISD’s new regional chiefs tasked with turning district around
Fort Worth ISD’s state-appointed Board of Managers approved a new instructional model during a special meeting Tuesday that will reorganize district leadership by opening four regional offices to keep support closer to individual campuses.
The new regional offices will assign a regional chief for Fort Worth ISD Central, North and South. There will also be a regional chief assigned to 19 Elevate Network campuses, schools chosen by Superintendent Peter Licata that have underwhelmed academically in recent years. The Elevate Network will aim to improve teaching skills, strengthen instruction and increase resources for students.
Working under each regional chief will be the regional office, which will include directors for: instructional leadership, school operations, special-education compliance, human resources and IT. Each regional office will have a regional coordinator as well.
Regional chiefs will be responsible for overseeing the campuses in their region, supporting principals and “focusing on improving instruction and student outcomes.” The move comes as the Board of Managers, appointed as part of a state takeover of the district, focuses on allowing principals and school administration to spend more time on education-related duties and less time being a “building manager,” officials said.
“The goal of this structure is to establish, to the fullest extent possible, that things that can get into the minutia of school business off the plate of the principal and really have the central office work as a service center so principals can stay focused on the main thing,” said Daniel Soliz, deputy superintendent and chief of schools. “And that is improving the quality of instruction for all students and making sure that we are yielding higher accelerated student outcomes.”
Soliz also said during a presentation to the Board of Managers at Tuesday’s board meeting that each regional chief will be the main instructional leader for the schools in their region. They will directly oversee the new executive directors of instructional leadership. Those instructional leadership directors will supervise principals in their region.
“These teams will be working cross-functionally to make sure that we are responsive to school needs in real time and take care of tasks or issues that the principals encounter day to day so they can remain focused on instruction,” Soliz said. “Our goal is to live in a system where we have pride in the quality of instruction across all schools in our district.”
According to a previous job listing for the regional chief positions posted by Fort Worth ISD, the yearly salary is expected to be between $200,000 and $230,000 per year. The positions report directly to Soliz.
Here is a breakdown of who Licata’s selections are to lead each regional office.
Kyndra Tyler, Fort Worth ISD Central campuses
Tyler most recently served as the executive director of instruction in Houston ISD and was previously the deputy head of schools for KIPP Texas Public Schools and the principal at a Lewisville ISD campus.
The district described Tyler as an “accomplished instructional leader” with prior experience coaching principals, improving school performances and assembling high-performing education teams.
Tyler has a doctor of education degree from Baylor University, a master’s in educational administration from Concordia University Texas and an undergraduate degree in English literature from the University of North Texas.
Pablo Resendiz, Fort Worth ISD North campuses
Resendiz served as assistant superintendent at Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, where he helped oversee 38 schools and nearly 40,000 students, according to his LinkedIn account.
Fort Worth ISD said in a statement that Resendiz has extensive experience in district leadership, principal supervision and campus turnaround work. He previously held administration and leadership roles at Houston ISD and Spring ISD in Houston. In those roles he focused on improving school performance and student achievement, according to the district.
Resendiz holds degrees from both the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Permian Basin, according to his LinkedIn.
Isaac Williams, Fort Worth ISD South campuses
Williams most recently served as CEO and superintendent of Promesa Academy Charter School in San Antonio. He previously held jobs with Ignite Community Schools, IDEA Public Schools and El Paso ISD.
Williams is described by Fort Worth ISD as a school improvement leader who has a long history of creating academic growth, assisting principals and creating education systems across a number of different campuses.
Shon Joseph, Fort Worth ISD Elevate campuses
Joseph last served as executive director of feeder at Houston ISD, and has previously worked in leadership positions at DeSoto ISD and was a middle school principal in Lancaster ISD.
Fort Worth ISD wrote in a statement that Joseph is a veteran Texas education leader who has experience developing talent and creating district support systems. In 2021, he was awarded the 2021 Texas High School Principal of the Year award by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.
Joseph holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from the University of North Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The creation of regional offices across the district is one of Licata’s first major moves since being appointed as Fort Worth ISD’s new superintendent by Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. The TEA was able to take over the district after a campus received a fifth consecutive F grade in the state’s yearly A-F accountability ratings, which triggered a Texas law allowing Morath to replace the existing elected school board with a Board of Managers and name a new superintendent.
Regional office plan approved alongside new Elevate Network instructional model
Licata’s regional office plan was in tandem with the Elevate Network plan, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Managers during Tuesday night’s meeting.
The 19 schools in the Elevate Network were selected because of underwhelming academic performance and will receive special attention in order to turn things around at the campuses. The schools will also have a longer school year that stretches further into the summer, student-teachers training to become full-time educators, support staff for teachers during lessons and group instruction, and higher pay for teachers.
A job posting uploaded by Fort Worth ISD after Tuesday night’s board meeting shows that salaries for teachers at Elevate schools can be as high as $100,000.
“The Elevate Network will be a path forward for our schools that have been persistently underperforming,” Soliz said. “We are really focused on three components: support, structure and resources. We want to build strong teaching skills in every teacher in every classroom, establishing consistent execution of our instructional delivery.”
