Top 10 stories of 2014: Fort Worth schools seek new superintendent

First in a series of the top stories of the past year.

Pat Linares, interim superintendent of the Fort Worth school district, strutted into the spacious office that belonged to Walter Dansby just six months ago, but she didn’t stay still for long.

On a normal day, she races from meeting to meeting, stopping at her desk only to respond to emails and phone calls. In six months on the job, Linares has instituted a principals’ cabinet that meets regularly to air concerns with the superintendent. She has brought transparency to a $490 million bond program that is likely to spill into the red because of rising construction costs. And she has led school board members to compromises on such volatile issues as the site for the district’s new STEM Academy for students who want careers in math, science, technology and engineering.

Linares has a way of breaking deadlocks on issues that the board can’t resolve on its own, Trustee T.A. Sims said.

“Sometimes, that’s what we need,” Sims said. “I owe her a lot of gratitude for coming in and working so hard at keeping things moving.”

Fort Worth board meetings early this year were punctuated by infighting and criticism of administrative decisions. Linares, who retired from the district as a deputy superintendent in 2010, has calmed board tensions after months of acrimony between the board majority and former Superintendent Dansby, who abruptly resigned June 2.

The board now is better focused on finding a permanent leader, said Sims and fellow Trustees Ann Sutherland and Matthew Avila. A new superintendent is expected to be hired in February.

“We are working together pretty well,” Avila said. “I don’t think everyone has been as cohesive as they are now. There are policy differences and policy debates but those are fairly productive and healthy. But we generally agree on how to get where we want to go.”

Sutherland also credits improved board relations to the board’s appointment of Norman Robbins as president, which happened as Dansby departed.

“Norm Robbins treats everybody the same,” Sutherland said. “That has a lot to do with it.”

Linares has said repeatedly that she does not want the superintendent’s job permanently. She will say it’s time for the nine-member board to seize on the hiring as an opportunity to improve student achievement.

“It’s that opportunity for every person to say what it is we believe in that will work for children, then we want to find the best leader to help us get there,” Linares said.

“The search for a new superintendent is a time when boards have to sit down and look at what are their core values and what qualities do they want to see in a superintendent,” she said.

In her no-nonsense, trademark style, Linares said it’s a “make it or break it” time for the Fort Worth school board.

Tumultous times

Dansby resigned after a critical personnel evaluation amid board members’ concerns that student test scores were not on par with the state’s other urban school districts.

Among Texas districts of similar size, Fort Worth has the highest percentage of low-performing schools. The total of low-performing schools in the Fort Worth district climbed to 38 campuses from 23 last year, according to the Texas Education Agency’s list of Public Education Grant Schools for 2014-15.

Of its 141 schools, 27 percent of Fort Worth’s campuses are on the Public Education Grant schools list. In comparison, Austin had 11 percent of 122 campuses; Dallas, 24 percent of 236 campuses; and Houston, 19 percent of 277. Schools are placed on the PEG school list as a result of low passing rates on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test and the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. A school can also appear on the list if it was rated “academically unacceptable” in 2011 or “improvement required” in 2013.

When he resigned, Dansby told the Star-Telegram that his negative evaluation had to do with inconsistent board leadership, a breakdown of trust between board members and the superintendent, and his unwillingness to engage in unethical behavior.

He was the district’s first African-American superintendent, hired in February 2012 after serving the district in capacities ranging from principal to top brass.

His departure in the summer was the latest painful episode in a tumultuous era for the district.

In 2004, Superintendent Thomas Tocco resigned amid a $16 million construction billing scandal. Melody Johnson was hired from Providence, R.I., as Tocco’s replacement and was credited with restoring public trust and creating innovative programs. But she resigned after six years because of relentless criticism by some board members, board President Ray Dickerson said at the time.

Moving forward

As the district looks for a new superintendent, public feedback from countless meetings at different schools emphasized finding a leader who can bring equity in resources to schools in economically disadvantaged areas.

Fort Worth enrolls about 86,000 students, and about 77 percent are economically disadvantaged, district officials said.

The new superintendent needs to understand that Fort Worth is a majority-minority district, several community leaders said. The new superintendent must be “culturally sensitive” and must understand that young African-American men are especially in need of role models, some parents urged.

Board member Cinto Ramos has emphasized the need to spread resources throughout the district. In the past, more affluent areas have been rewarded with better programs, he said.

“I would like to see some vision of getting away from the stereotypical programs that were put in some of our communities,” Ramos told trustees at a Dec. 9 meeting.

Avila said: “The equity issue is about closing the achievement gap. When people are saying equity, they want all of our students performing at grade level and making yearly progress regardless of their racial, socioeconomic or family background.”

The district has a long way to go to close the achievement gap between Anglos, African-Americans and Hispanics, Linares acknowledged. But attitudes are changing, she said.

“Are we there? Have we reached equity in education as we would like to see it?” she said. “No. But I do believe that the passion and the dedication to get there is in our district right now.

“It’s in the heart of all of our board members, of our educators, of our parents and of our students.”

This story was originally published December 21, 2014 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Top 10 stories of 2014: Fort Worth schools seek new superintendent."