The Fort Worth ISD Board of Managers has created a community listening survey to better understand what is most important to parents and members of the community.
The survey comes after the board held a number of community listening sessions in recent weeks and months at campuses across the district to hear what issues are most important. Those listening sessions started out lightly attended but became filled with attendees as more were held.
Board members are hoping the survey will address the following main questions: What knowledge, skills, and experiences are most important for Fort Worth ISD students to have, what values and priorities the community believes should guide the district’s work, and what non-negotiables the district should honor while pursuing student success.
Other questions in the survey include: what should Fort Worth ISD students know or be able to know, what describes a successful Fort Worth ISD graduate, and what are the most important values of this community that the superintendent must honor, regardless of pressure or politics. It also asks what things the district is currently doing that work, and what things it is doing that do not work.
“As members of the FWISD School Board, we are committed to ensuring our FWISD students have the capacity to live purposeful, choice-filled lives,” the survey reads. “We are also committed to providing clarity about what matters most for our students and to meaningfully track the district’s progress toward achieving it. To accomplish this, it is critical that we deeply understand our community’s vision for our students.”
Fort Worth ISD’s current Board of Managers was put in place by Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath in March when the state took over the school district due to stagnant academic performance. Morath also named Peter Licata as the district’s new superintendent. Licata and the nine-member Board of Managers have preached about providing the community “radical transparency” since they were appointed earlier this year.
The board began its tenure by giving public commenters more time to speak at school board meetings, attaching supporting documents to meeting agendas that explained what was being voted on, and hosting a number of listening sessions at campuses across the city.
But still, a large number of community members feel the district is not doing enough.
“We have seen the term ‘radical transparency’ used by this board,” said Keith Ennis, a Fort Worth ISD parent, to the board during an April public comment session. “Answering our questions and holding to those answers is my definition of radical transparency.”
The board also has a number of listening sessions scheduled for later this month, including on Aug. 18 at the NAACP Fort Worth Tarrant County branch, and two on Aug. 20. A full schedule of listening events can be found here.
Fort Worth ISD will accept survey responses until Sept. 15.
Editor’s note: Fort Worth ISD Board of Managers chair Pete Geren is the president and chief executive officer of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, which is a funder of the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab. The Star-Telegram retains independence in all coverage decisions.v