Parents at the Fort Worth-based Texas Center for Arts + Academics charter schools are calling for board chair Cheryl Bean to step down after a since-deleted post they viewed as offensive and racially motivated appeared on her political campaign Facebook account.
Bean is the GOP nominee for a key Texas House seat in November. She is seeking to replace Republican Tony Tinderholt as he runs for Tarrant County commissioner. School leaders have not indicated whether they are considering any actions.
On July 1, Bean posted an AI-generated image of WNBA player Sophie Cunningham on a boat and pointing forward while her Indiana Fever teammates row — a visual modeled after the historic “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting. The image depicted her Black teammates wearing floaties but not the white players. Cunningham’s gesture references a June 22 game in which she pointed intensely at Phoenix Mercury player DeWanna Bonner after a brawl with Fever teammate Caitlin Clark.
Some school parents questioned the intention of the AI image, which included the caption “IYKYK A little humor for the day!”
Texas Center for Arts + Academics board chair Cheryl Bean shared this AI-generated image on her Facebook on July 1. The image, which was captured in a screenshot by a TCA+A parent, was later deleted from Bean’s campaign page. (Courtesy | Alycia Bennett)
An online petition calling for Bean’s board resignation or removal from the center, also known as TCA+A, had garnered more than 1,440 signatures as of Thursday. The center governs the Texas School of the Arts and Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts.
The petition also calls for board directors to reaffirm their commitment to the nondiscrimination, inclusion, respect and equality expectations outlined in the charter schools’ student handbooks. The appeal requests the board adopt standards of conduct that include expectations for public communication and social media activity, which currently only apply to employees.
Superintendent and president Anika Perkins told the Fort Worth Report that TCA+A is aware of the petition but “had no comment regarding the matter.” She did not answer specific questions on whether board directors will discuss the post at their upcoming Aug. 24 meeting.
In a July 2 statement sent to families, Bean said the intent was to show female athletes standing strong against unsportsmanlike conduct in a humorous way. She and her team did not see the floaties in the picture and would never have posted it if they did, she wrote.
It is not clear where the image originated.
“I believe racism in any form has no place in our society and regret our unintentional oversight,” Bean said.
Bean did not respond to the Report’s requests for comment. She is serving her first term as chair but has been on the board since 2023, according to public tax filings.
The seven-member board did not respond to an email sent to their joint account requesting comment.
Alycia Bennett, who has two children at Texas School of the Arts, said she launched the petition on Sunday evening in an effort to hold Bean accountable as some parents don’t believe her actions reflect the school’s community and values. Parents are not focused on asking Bean to drop her political campaign, she said.
The online appeal references the post and other social media activity by Bean that the parents viewed as “overtly racist content,” Bennett said.
One November post on the social media platform X illustrated a red plane bearing the symbol for communism and the word “Mamdani” flying into a New York City tower after Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the 2025 mayoral election. Another post from December featured a political cartoon of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett painting Texas blue with the words “Crazy…Crazy Crockett! The Queen of the Ghetto Frontier …” over her head.
“(Bean) holds strong opinions and values that don’t really align with the families they serve,” Bennett said. “We hold our students to a certain standard and if we can’t hold our board members to the same standards, that’s not OK.”
TCA+A board bylaws state that any director may resign at any given time through written or electronic notice to the chair or organization president. Any director may be removed from the board for just cause by a majority vote at a regular or special meeting.
Bylaws define just cause as “failure to recuse upon a conflict of interest, failing to attend meetings of the board of directors, and failing to properly carry out the duties and responsibilities of a director.”
Parents have not received further updates from administration since the initial message, Bennett said.
The Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts is home to the world-famous Texas Boys Choir. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
The Fort Worth Report’s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. At the Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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