Three months after Texas took control of Fort Worth ISD, the appointed board of managers asked community members how they want the 63,000-student district to improve. Managers are hearing familiar problems.
At North Side High School, parents and staff said FWISD’s new leaders need to understand the campus as a generational anchor for families who have watched children, siblings and grandchildren graduate from the same halls.
At Dunbar High School, community members asked for something more basic: reading instruction, social skills, athletics, intervention and resources they said southeast Fort Worth has sought for years.
From Benbrook Middle-High School to Paschal High School, speakers pushed back on top-down, one-size-fits-all decisions, though for different reasons. Benbrook parents don’t want their high-performing campuses dragged to the middle. Paschal parents described a loss of staffing, lesson control and continuity they say is already underway.
The state-appointed managers are drafting five goals by which Superintendent Peter Licata’s performance is to be evaluated. But across four listening sessions attended by more than 250 community members, the message was clear: The 210-square-mile district may be too varied for one set of goals to fit.
Former FWISD trustee Christene Chadwick Moss attended the Dunbar session and saw managers showing up and listening. But the nearly 30-year school board member had a concern.
“Are they going to take all of this back and actually use our thoughts and work with the superintendent on what our area needs for our students?” Moss told the Fort Worth Report. “Or is it going to be like years in the past where administration comes out and they listen and nothing is accomplished?”
Manager Courtney Lewis told Dunbar attendees that the board’s work begins with separating community values from district operations.
The board’s job, Lewis said, is to represent the community, set goals and guardrails, then hold Licata accountable. The superintendent’s job is to run the district — from buses and air conditioning to lesson planning and staffing.
The goals are part of a state-approved governance approach used in districts across Texas. FWISD’s elected trustees adopted their goals a month before Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed the board of managers and superintendent.
Elected trustees wanted to eliminate F-rated campuses by 2030. Other goals for that year focused on increasing:
Parents, educators and Fort Worth ISD community members listen to board of managers President Pete Geren as he begins a listening session June 25 inside Benbrook Middle-High School’s cafeteria. (Jacob Sanchez | Fort Worth Report)
Some Benbrook parents questioned whether managers are using the preexisting practices from elected trustees to guide their decisions. Manager Bobby Ahdieh said the appointed board has worked within the inherited constraints — a framework new leaders don’t see as enough to improve student outcomes.
Managers will continue listening for the next couple of months, Lewis said. Then, they will summarize the community’s highest priorities. They want goals in place by fall so those priorities can shape the 2027-28 budget.
At North Side, turnout became part of the concern. Around 20 Fort Worth residents attended.
Jesse Rios, a 1995 graduate whose son will be a junior at the school, said the district did not reach enough families. He stood up from his wooden seat in the high school’s auditorium and had attendees do a roll call. He counted three North Side parents, three Arlington Heights parents and one Diamond Hill parent.
The meeting time — 5:30 p.m. during the summer — made it hard for working families to attend, Rios said. So did the way the district promoted the sessions.
“I don’t think it was distributed through the community,” Rios said.
At Dunbar, Lewis told the more than 40 attendees that the managers were already listening. Future listening sessions will move to 6 p.m., she said, and the board is trying to reach families who may not see a district website post or attend a formal meeting.
Back at North Side, speakers asked managers to protect programs that families already value.
Marisol Herrera, a parent, PTA leader and former bilingual educator, said the dual language program is one of FWISD’s strengths because it gives students the chance to become bilingual and biliterate.
Herrera said she became concerned after the district eliminated positions supporting bilingual and emergent bilingual students. Even if the intent was not to weaken dual language, she said, the impact alarmed families who chose FWISD because of the program.
She asked managers to make clear that dual language instruction will continue — and to back that commitment with money for training, curriculum and certified bilingual teachers.
“That’s not the place where our community wants you to save money,” Herrera said.
Fort Worth ISD parent Dionna Deardorff speaks during a board of managers listening session on June 29 inside Paschal High School’s cafeteria. More than 100 people attended the event that was led by manager Tennessee Walker, right. (Jacob Sanchez | Fort Worth Report)
At Paschal, parent Dionna Deardorff agreed with many concerns others raised about scripted lessons, teaching to a slideshow and strict classroom decor rules. But managers will not fix those issues directly, she said.
Deardorff called them “customer service complaints,” a term she learned while seeking an appointment on the board of managers. The board’s responsibilities — elected or appointed — are high-level governance, such as evaluating the superintendent and adopting the $1.1 billion budget.
“If you have issues with teacher autonomy, valuing teachers, we need to frame those in terms of goals and guardrails,” Deardorff told more than 100 people in the cafeteria. “Because that is what the board of managers is in charge of.”
At Dunbar, residents returned to the question of whether Fort Worth ISD can meet basic student needs in communities that have asked for help before.
Tempest Williams, a 2003 Dunbar graduate, said students need to be able to read. Paula Matthews, a retired district employee, said children need social skills before they can succeed in class, athletics or the workplace. Others asked for stronger writing instruction, athletics, dyslexia services and student support.
Moss, the former elected trustee, told the Report she is hearing many of the same concerns southeast Fort Worth residents have raised for years. Now, she said, managers will be judged by whether the sessions lead to visible changes.
Moss is not dismissing the process. Many Dunbar attendees prioritized transparency, asking managers to show how community feedback will be used, which concerns become goals and guardrails, and how Licata will be held accountable.
“I just need to know if that’s going to happen,” she said.
Fort Worth ISD manager Laurie George explains how the listening session will work as she walks around the Paschal High School cafeteria on June 29. (Jacob Sanchez | Fort Worth Report)
Noah Moyse, a fifth-year teacher at Meadowbrook Middle School, said he appreciated FWISD keeping its student outcomes-based bonus structure rather than discarding it like in other takeover districts.
Going forward, managers should keep the district focused on attracting and retaining the best teachers at every campus, he said.
“When we have high-quality teachers, outcomes are going to be raised up,” Moyse said.
At Benbrook, Christine Trammell, a librarian at Southwest High, fidgeted as she addressed more than 60 people gathered inside the cafeteria. In one hand, she rubbed a small figurine of Jesus Christ — something she does when nervous. The figurine is missing an arm.
She knew the room was tense. She said so herself. But her message wasn’t aimed at the managers. It was for the parents and teachers around her.
“It’s OK to be angry about change,” said Trammell, who has worked in FWISD for 30 years.
By the end of her remarks, Trammell said it was a miracle she hadn’t cried. She thanked the crowd, the managers and made one more request. The situation may be difficult, she said.
“But let’s all try to help the kids,” she said.
Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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