Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Peter Licata, center, listens to a group of J.T. Stevens Elementary parents during a session Aug. 24 at South Hills High School.
Jacob Sanchez /Fort Worth Report
A group of Fort Worth ISD students launched an online petition this week calling on district leaders to give their teachers space to do their jobs.
In the petition, which was launched by more than 50 students in grades four through 12, students say the stress and disruptions associated with the state takeover of the district are affecting teachers’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. The petition had garnered 1,370 signatures by 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Since March, Fort Worth ISD has been under the control of state-appointed Superintendent Peter Licata and a state-appointed board of managers. Although five consecutive F ratings at a single campus triggered the takeover, the district has seen stagnant academic progress for more than a decade.
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Fort Worth ISD leaders have implemented a number of strategies they say are designed to help students make progress quickly, including targeted support at the district’s lowest-performing campuses and scripted lessons that ensure that all students in each grade level get identical instruction.
In the petition, students say the pre-packaged slides their teachers are required to use in class don’t allow space for them to engage with the material. Because teachers are required to follow a strict time clock, students don’t have a chance to ask questions or delve deeper into the concepts they’re learning in class, the students wrote. And teachers don’t have the freedom to tailor their instruction to their students’ needs.
Aside from being overly rigid, many of the slides teachers present in class contain information that’s incorrect, students wrote. In social studies, students see spelling errors. In Spanish, there are translation errors. Students in a French class recently spotted an image that appeared to be AI-generated.
“We experience this constantly,” students wrote. “We are being told to follow these lessons, but these lessons are teaching us inaccurate material.”
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Frequent walkthroughs in class also create stress for teachers and students alike, the students wrote. Visits from district-level officials change the atmosphere in the classroom, they wrote. Students try to concentrate on the material teachers are covering, they said, but it’s difficult to ignore strangers with clipboards “judging our teachers and us, writing things ominously in the corner.”
Among other requests, the students asked district leaders to give teachers more leeway to respond to the needs of the students in front of them and allow students more time to ask questions and discuss the material they’re learning “instead of always moving to the next required task.” They also asked district leaders to make sure the material their teachers present in class is accurate and error-free before students see it.
The complaints outlined in the petition mirror those voiced by teachers who left Fort Worth ISD at the end of the last school year. The district saw a sharp surge in teacher resignations after the takeover began, according to records released by the district in response to a records request. Several departing teachers told The Dallas Morning News they resigned because micromanagement and the chaotic work environment created by the takeover made it impossible for them to do their jobs well.
Some parents have raised similar concerns about changes in Fort Worth ISD. Ahead of a school board meeting last month, a group of parents held a news conference to criticize the rigid curriculum and a lack of transparency from new leadership.
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In a statement, district leaders said they were aware of the petition and appreciated students sharing their perspectives.
“Superintendent Licata meets regularly with students from across the district,” district leaders said. “Those conversations range from lunches and athletics to classroom instruction and college opportunities, and several student recommendations have already led to changes this year. That work will continue, and we welcome feedback from every student as we work to provide high-quality instruction in every classroom.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
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