Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar gives a presentation on student academics and the instructional framework during a FWISD school board meeting at the District Administration Building on May 20, 2025.
Chris Torres
ctorres@star-telegram.com
Weeks before the Texas Education Agency is expected to take over the district, Fort Worth ISD community members are asking the school board to again consider implementing a policy to protect students from immigration raids.
Sabrina Ball, a Fort Worth ISD parent and co-leader of the advocacy organization Indivisible 12, proposed the initial policy language at a board meeting in February 2025. At the time, Ball presented the policy as a bolster to a 2017 resolution approved by the board that declared the district “welcoming and safe” for all students, regardless of their immigration status.
That resolution, Ball said last February, was no longer sufficient to protect students.
Ball and multiple Fort Worth district residents called for the implementation of an updated version of the policy during a recent school board meeting. The tweaks were suggested by immigration lawyers from a major Texas university, Ball said. The proposal includes a requirement that school personnel attempt to contact the parents of any student involved in an immigration inquiry; that school staff receive training on immigration laws to adequately protect students; and that requests for access to “non-public areas of school property” from immigration law enforcement be unpermitted without a signed judicial warrant also reviewed by the superintendent’s office and legal counsel.
A similar proposal has been brought forward in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD.
“Board policy demanding that law enforcement actually follow the law can be a love letter to your students as you leave here,” Ball told the school board at a Feb. 24 meeting. “Long after tonight, your policies will remain and those policies will determine whether Fort Worth was caught off guard or whether this board chose to protect its students when it still had the chance.”
Kimberly Lawrence, a Fort Worth ISD parent, shared a statement with the board on behalf of her daughter, who is a senior at Paschal High School. She said her classmates carry the heavy weight of worrying about whether their loved ones will be home when they return home from school. The dark cloud of fear has made it “nearly impossible” for those students to focus on learning, she said.
“The reality is that many of my classmates come to school carrying a weight that I personally have never had to bear: the fear that someone they love might not be home when they return, or worse, that their parents could be ripped from them while dropping them off at school. Or even that these students could themselves be taken by ICE while in their school,” she said. “These are not radical ideas. They are the bare minimum of what every child in this district deserves.”
In January, the National Parent Teacher Association called for the passage of federal legislation that would prohibit immigration enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of schools, bus stops and child care centers.
“Research underscores what families are experiencing: this type of enforcement leads to decreased attendance, behavioral and mental health challenges for children and reduced health care access. Protecting school attendance and each student’s learning and well-being are essential to our nation’s future success,” the organization stated.
The renewed push for the policy’s implementation comes as the school district prepares for an impending state takeover.
Ball sent an email to school board members and Superintendent Karen Molinar this week reiterating the urgency for its passage before district leaders are removed from their positions. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath announced on Wednesday that current Superintendent Karen Molinar will be replaced by a state appointee at the same time a new board of managers replaces the sitting school board.
The TEA, however, has limited the policy changes that can be made by the current board until the state agency takes over the district, trustee Michael Ryan told the Star-Telegram. He raised the concern of teachers or staff being arrested for hindering or obstructing law enforcement activity that would put their teaching licenses in jeopardy.
“The legal department is looking into what our employees should do to work within the legal framework to take care of our children and to fully comply with the law so they will not be punished,” Ryan said.
No other school board members responded to requests for comment as of Friday afternoon. TEA officials did not respond to a request for comment on school board members being limited from implementing policy changes.
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Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.