In first Fort Worth ISD meeting since state takeover, community members weigh in

In the wake of last week’s state takeover of the Fort Worth Independent School District, more community members weighed in on the decision during the district’s first school board meeting since the announcement by Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath.

The president of the district’s Council of Parent-Teacher Associations, an elementary school parent and a middle school teacher shared words of support for the district during the public comment portion of the meeting, calling on district leaders to use data to break the cycle of its “pursuit of mediocrity”; and voicing their intent to run for the soon-to-be appointed board of managers, which will replace the current school board.

The district is undergoing a state takeover from the Texas Education Agency after one of its campuses — the Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade Center — received failed accountability letter grades from the state five years in a row. When this happens, state law requires the failing school to either be closed or the school board be replaced with a state-appointed board of managers. The district closed the school at the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Morath announced on Oct. 23 his decision on a takeover, noting he would begin his search for the state appointees, in addition to appointing a state conservator to oversee the transition and implement turnaround plans at low-performing schools. He will also be conducting a nationwide superintendent search but will consider current Superintendent Karen Molinar as a candidate. Morath said he expects to name the new board and superintendent in the spring; the new board of managers will be selected from a pool of applicants who are local community members.

District officials have the option to appeal the takeover decision. Officials will meet privately on Thursday in Austin with Morath for an “informal review” of the appointment of the board of managers and the conservator. On Tuesday night, the board released a statement saying it was focused on “preparing for a productive discussion during the review.”

“The Board of Trustees appreciates the opportunity to meet with Commissioner Morath and TEA officials in Austin this Thursday for the informal review. We value the Commissioner’s time and remain committed to working collaboratively on behalf of Fort Worth ISD students and families. At this stage, our focus is on preparing for a productive discussion during the review. The Board has provided materials to support that process, and we will share additional information publicly as appropriate following the meeting,” school board President Roxanne Martinez said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Guadalupe Lynch, president of the Fort Worth ISD Council of PTAs, was one of the community members who spoke during public comment. She offered her support to the school district and noted that she and her colleagues want to contribute their voice to the process.

“With the TEA takeover in consideration, you guys have our support however we need it. Please feel free to reach out. We are already grooming our local leaders to step in and apply for the board of managers so that we have some percentage of local voice. Thank you for what you do,” Lynch said.

Heather Tolksdorf, a De Zavala Elementary parent, tied the school board’s decision earlier this year to close the elementary school with TEA’s decision to take over the district. She and other De Zavala parents have been vocal about their confusion behind the decision to close their children’s A-rated school and view its closure as a mistake, based on its high academic performance. Tolksdorf also referred to a culture of using “back channels as a more effective form of getting things done” in reference to other Fort Worth ISD schools getting their names off of the district’s closure list.

“This is the culture of our district that got us here. Yet when I consider the challenges facing our district, I have a deep concern that this who-knows-who way of operating runs too deep to overcome. Our families are here today in the public forum to call attention to this risk, to push our community and whichever leaders come forth next to use data to make decisions,” Tolksdorf said. “The TEA takeover is a resounding affirmation that we will not preserve our district with continued failure and the pursuit of mediocrity. This is a call to our community and future district leaders: preserve, study and replicate excellence.”

Scott Blanco-Davis, who identified himself as an English teacher but is listed on the World Languages Institute website as a middle school science teacher, said the district’s future is unclear while sharing his intent to apply to the board of managers.

“I don’t know where our future lies. I don’t know what TEA is going to do. I do know that I’ve been worried about the district for a long time. So understand, I put my name in for board of managers,” he said.

No school board members commented about the takeover on Tuesday, but Molinar emphasized the district will continue to serve students from pre-K through high school regardless of the takeover process moving forward. She quoted Nick Saban, a former football coach and sportscaster for ESPN’s College GameDay, about “locking in” and “locking out.”

“Regardless of the news of the TEA takeover, this is the work that we are committed to every single day in this district and will continue… We are not stopping. It is pedal to the metal with even more urgency,” Molinar said. “Our instructional team, our teachers, our campus leaders and all of our support staff — we’re locking in on our students right now. And we’re going to lock out any of the negativity that impacts them on a daily basis.”

Several other community leaders have already voiced their reactions to the news. Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement that a new board of managers has “the potential to be “transformative” for the district while acknowledging the recent academic gains seen under the helm of Molinar, of whom she said she was in favor of staying on as superintendent. Tiffany Clark, a Texas State Board of Education trustee who represents Fort Worth, said she was blind-sided by the announcement, calling it a political move rather than an academic one. Other opponents of the takeover such as Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles and Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons echoed similar sentiments, considering it an overreach on local control.

Texas lawmakers voiced mixed reactions to the takeover with Republicans calling it a necessary step in charting a more successful path for the district while Democrats said they would have preferred Molinar and the current school board to continue making the growth the district has seen recently.

The Association of Texas Professional Educators, which represents more than 366 members who work in Fort Worth ISD, said teachers weren’t expected to feel impacts of the change for “several months” but called the takeover “concerning.”

Fort Worth ISD’s takeover follows the TEA’s takeover of the state’s largest school district: Houston ISD. The takeover there began in 2023 after one of its campuses also received five F grades consecutively. As a result, the district saw no F-rated campuses this year, and its STAAR scores have soared. On the other hand, high turnover has been seen among teachers and principals while enrollment has declined.

Another Tarrant County school district, Lake Worth ISD, is at risk of a state takeover for the same reason: one of its campuses received five failing accountability grades in a row. Morath visited Lake Worth ISD last week, just two days before announcing the takeover of Fort Worth ISD. He’s said he plans to make a decision on Lake Worth ISD “in a few months.”

What’s happened in Fort Worth ISD leading up to the takeover?

The A-F accountability grades that prompted the state takeover are a measure on how well campuses and districts overall are performing academically with an emphasis on test performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR.

The Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade Center received its fifth failing grade for the 2023 school year, but those grades were not released until this year due to a delay stemming from a court battle. Morath notified the district of a potential takeover in May after their release.

It remains to be seen whether Morath will choose Molinar to stay in the superintendent position. Molinar was selected for the interim job after the resignation of former Superintendent Angélica Ramsey in fall 2024 and inherited the permanent position in March. Ramsey’s resignation came shortly after Mayor Mattie Parker called on the district to turnaround its stagnant academic performance, which has trailed behind other urban school districts across Texas.

The district has seen improvements in academic performance since Molinar has taken over. In addition to improvements in spring 2025 STAAR scores across almost every grade level, the number of campuses with F accountability grades from the state declined from 31 to 11 over the course of a year, and 63 schools gained at least one letter grade.