The metal step stool clanked as Fort Worth ISD third grader Adrian Forsythe\u2019s mother placed it in front of the podium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian stepped up and placed his wide-ruled notebook in front of him. He fiddled with the microphone before making a request to FWISD\u2019s Texas-appointed board of managers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He asked for an extra minute to speak. Just one. Because he\u2019s dyslexic and has a speech impairment. He inhaled deeply and began reading.<\/p>\n \u201cOne day I\u2019ll be the president,\u201d Adrian began.<\/p>\n During a Sept. 8 board of managers meeting, Adrian was one of nine students who pushed back against changes FWISD introduced following the state takeover<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n They traded their evening for three minutes at the microphone, even if it meant waiting until 9:25 on a school night to begin speaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSorry we made you stay up late,\u201d board President Pete Geren said, promising students will speak first at future meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018What\u2019s the point?\u2019<\/p>\n Last school year was fun, fifth grader Charlotte Lingle told managers. She played learning games. She moved around the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cI liked going to school every day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Then the Texas education commissioner appointed the superintendent and a nine-member board of managers because state law required him to act after a school failed five years in a row. Now, Superintendent Peter Licata is charged with quickly turning around a 60,000-student district that has academically struggled for more than a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cChange is hard,\u201d Licata said. \u201cGoing back to the old ways, the old days are not good for everyone. As a matter of fact, it\u2019s not good for about 60% of our kids who can\u2019t read.\u201d<\/p>\n The resulting changes<\/a> made this school year noticeably different, Charlotte said. She must remain in her seat. Teachers read from slides. She only works with classmates right next to or in front of her.<\/p>\n Doing well earns her more work, she said. When she scores advanced on her daily assessment \u2014 which checks what students learned that day \u2014 she gets a packet she said she can never finish in time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me frustrated and wondering, \u2018What\u2019s the point?\u2019\u201d Charlotte said.<\/p>\n \u2018It would be marked wrong\u2019<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence-generated content has made its way into FWISD\u2019s lessons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jordan Grimsely, a junior at Arlington Heights High School, has noticed it in her AP environmental science class.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first couple of weeks of school, Jordan flipped through a packet. She stopped on a habitat diagram. Animals were distorted, Jordan said. Plants, too. Some critters had tails as wide as their bodies. Large animals had rabbit ears. She turned to her classmate.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be joking,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The following week, Jordan\u2019s class focused on the water cycle. The lesson incorrectly stated plants release water back into the ocean. Her teacher stopped and corrected the lesson, she said: Transpiration releases vapor into the air.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I wrote that plants \u2018transpired water back into our oceans\u2019 for a free-response question on an AP test, it would be marked wrong,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n Louis Kushner, the superintendent\u2019s chief of staff, told nearly 200 parents attending a forum at Arlington Heights High School<\/a> that district leadership hears their concerns loud and clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n Licata has acknowledged the AI-generated mistakes. However, the superintendent said during the listening session that teachers also can edit their lessons and some did so incorrectly. A committee of teachers is now reviewing lessons before distribution.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe also know that they\u2019re human, and sometimes they may miss an error,\u201d Kushner said Sept. 1 at Arlington Heights. \u201cWe are taking an extra precautionary step to ensure that we put teachers\u2019 eyes on that curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n Students said the problem runs deeper than bad diagrams \u2014 it\u2019s the instructional model that scripts what teachers say.<\/p>\n Eastern Hills High School sophomore Margarita Cordova wants challenging classes to return.<\/p>\n \u201cIs the goal of scripted teaching to truly ensure everyone is succeeding, or are we sacrificing the individuality of our students and teachers to make everyone the same?\u201d Margarita said.<\/p>\n \u2018Listen to people\u2019<\/p>\n Managers leaned forward as Adrian spoke. He paused as he flipped pages in his notebook, giving himself a moment to find his place.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember what I said at the beginning?\u201d Adrian asked the board of managers. \u201cOne day I will be the president.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRemember,\u201d he added, \u201cthat leaders are supposed to listen to people, including kids.\u201d<\/p>\n He thanked the managers for listening. He hopped off the step stool and walked alongside his mom back to his seat.<\/p>\n Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @_jacob_sanchez<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s reader advisory council. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. 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