Fort Worth ISD parents and teachers weighed in on Superintendent Angelica Ramsey’s job performance at a special school board meeting on Tuesday.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the school board scheduled the meeting to review Ramsey’s tenure as head of the district.
Award-winning district teachers Ale Checka, Michael O’Brien, and Amanda Inay laid out a number of concerns during public comment, including teacher burnout, missing tech, and issues with Ramsey’s leadership.
“This feels like year one all over again because of the massive failures, inane requirements, and mismanaged direction coming from this administration,” O’Brien told the trustees, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Mayor Parker was right to come into this room and express the community’s dissatisfaction with you… Education is about people, the kids, and the teachers, but Fort Worth ISD has forgotten that. It’s time for change. Let’s move on,” he added.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Mayor Mattie Parker and other community leaders signed a letter to the school board outlining the many academic failures over the last several years. The district has become somewhat of a disaster zone, with only 32% of its students scoring at grade level on the STAAR exam during the 2021-2022 school year, much worse than the 41% logged by Dallas ISD.
Parent Shield Fort Worth held a press conference outside of Fort Worth ISD’s administration building before Tuesday’s meeting, slamming the superintendent and the school board for the district’s student achievement outcomes.
“Regardless of who’s sitting in this seat, I think that’s up to the trustees to go in here and make the decision. But that’s their only employee, and we want them to really make sure that they’re holding that person accountable, so that our kids are increasing and heading in the right direction,” said Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, Parent Shield Fort Worth’s executive director, per the Star-Telegram. “We have literally three-fourths of the students in Fort Worth ISD not on grade level. That’s unacceptable.”
Others at the meeting felt that the board should have acted sooner, arguing that they are only reviewing Ramsey’s performance because political figures like Parker made a big deal about students’ outcomes.
“If your plan is to pacify us parents by firing Ramsey postmortem, and we don’t have a plan, that’s not it for me. Y’all get the job done,” an unidentified parent said during public comment, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The school board trustees went into closed session during Tuesday’s meeting to discuss Ramsey’s performance. After they emerged, they took no official action.
Board President Roxanne Martinez declined to share what was discussed behind closed doors with regard to Ramsey.
“I just want to reassure our parents, our students, our families and our community stakeholders that we will keep our students first and foremost at the top of our interest, and that we are here for our students and our staff and our families. We’ll continue to work hard to ensure that Fort Worth ISD is a place where all of our students can succeed,” Martinez told the Star-Telegram.