Fort Worth ISD board mucks up badly needed strategic plan. What are we doing here? | Opinion

If Hollywood wants to remake “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” may we recommend basing it on the Fort Worth school board?

At its July 23 meeting, the board voted down a strategic plan crafted by Superintendent Angélica Ramsey and her staff. The plan, the result of months of work, represents the administration’s comprehensive attempt to improve educational achievement. Two board members, Anne Darr and Kevin Lynch, missed the meeting, and their colleagues expressed a desire to have the full board on record on the plan.

A trustee who supported the plan, Michael Ryan, was a “no” vote but said the plan would come up again in August. He wrote in an email that he and others wanted each trustee to have “ownership” of the plan and said he would change his vote when the full board is present.

Still, it points to a growing governance problem in Fort Worth ISD. Board President Camille Rodriguez, who insisted on a vote to have the plan in place for the start of the school year, lamented: “I do not know what our next steps are for this school district.”

Voters and parents could be forgiven for thinking the same.

The biggest concern is that it looks like the board can’t or won’t get out of Ramsey’s way. In less than two years, she has pushed three major initiatives. A staff reorganization came with difficult job cuts, but the board, to its credit, backed Ramsey.

Administrators’ plans to close some middle schools due to the unrelenting reality of dropping enrollment fell flat with the board, though. Trustees voted not just to keep the targeted schools open but to proceed with expensive renovations, a frightful violation of fiscal discipline. (Ryan predicted that this plan, too, would come back before the board soon.)

And now, Ramsey’s been stymied in efforts to push the district toward much-needed academic reform. Are some board members souring on her performance already? Her contract runs through July 2026, and a recent evaluation did not yield an extension.

FWISD simply cannot advance with a lame-duck leader. Going back to square one with a new superintendent — if a good one could even be persuaded to take the job amid such dysfunction — will further delay the steps needed to fix the district’s years-long academic crisis.

Trustee Quinton “Q” Phillips of District 3 in east/north Fort Worth, the only member to join Rodriguez in voting for the plan, was fairly blunt about the consequence of the vote.

“I don’t want there to be speculation about whether or not this is the direction the board wants to go in,” he said at the meeting. “I want [Ramsey] to be able to go full steam ahead. We talk all the time about accountability. We’ve got to let her get to work, then.”

Two trustees questioned whether district officials had done enough to communicate with families and solicit input for the plan. It’s almost always true that governments can do better at informing the public and getting feedback. But sometimes, this is a go-to complaint to throw sand in the gears.

Fort Worth ISD held community forums and focus groups and sent out a survey. Trustee Roxanne Martinez complained that families, disconnected from schools for the summer, needed a text message to know about the questionnaire.

Sure. There’s always more to be done to communicate better. But the survey drew 3,700 responses. That’s more people than voted when Martinez first won the District 9 seat, which stretches from the north side to the southern edge of the district, in 2021. (Her runoff drew slightly more.) And it’s more than voted in two rounds combined when fellow complainant Wallace Bridges ran in District 4 (southeast Fort Worth) in 2022.

Bridges had a point that the draft of the plan should have been available to voters before the board decided on it. He questioned Ramsey’s plan, though, to have school principals lead the efforts to explain the strategy to families. While he’s right that Ramsey herself should be front and center as much as possible, isn’t it better for parents to hear from principals they know than central-office administrators they don’t?

Finally, Rodriguez forced the vote, even though it should have been clear the plan wasn’t going to pass. She made her point, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the board.

The strategic plan is not perfect, and it should be adjusted along the way. But it tackles the right issues and sets ambitious goals.

Let’s not forget what we’re talking about here: A district where nearly seven out of 10 third-graders cannot read at grade level. As we’ve said again and again, Fort Worth ISD needs significant change, and fast.

“Every plan could be improved, but I think this one will meet the requirements of the district to improve student outcomes,” Ryan told us. “We will be continually adapting the plan to meet the ever changing needs of our students. The goals are realistic and meet the focus of the district.”

The first step for the board to do that, as Phillips said, is to get out of Ramsey’s way.