A “racial equity committee” established by Fort Worth ISD stated it will now be conducting their meetings privately.
According to CBS 11 News, this development came after three parents and an attorney said at a full board meeting that the discussion of race in schools could be a violation of state law.
After residents noticed that the district no longer provides updates of meeting dates and locations on its website, the district and the committee chair announced the decision to limit meeting attendance to committee members. A meeting scheduled for March 3 was also not listed on the website.
In a statement obtained by CBS 11, the district explained that a quorum of board trustees would not be at the meeting. The district also said that neither the state Open Meetings Act nor board policy required any part of the committee meetings to be posted or open to the public.
Out of eight trustees on the district board, four are on the racial equity committee.
The committee chair, board trustee Q Phillips, said that while public debates enabled community and committee members to speak out over issues of concern, it limited the committee from doing much of its intended work. Phillips explained that the public pressure made some committee members anxious to attend meetings.
“That’s why we’re switching. To make sure that the committee has the complete opportunity to be together, to really dive into those committees and opportunities and date points and everything to study around so we can have real recommendations for our district moving forward,” said Phillips.
Per CBS, Phillips believes that the private meetings will not limit the transparency of the committee, as recommendations to the school board will still be considered and voted on in an open meeting.
Residents interested in the meetings, on the other hand, are displeased with the decision to make the committee’s meetings private.
Lexi Lovett expressed the belief that closing the meetings to the public is indeed a move away from transparency.
“It’s not a game of hide and seek,” Lovett told CBS.
“We’ve seen all over the country that transparency is important,” she further said. “Parents want to know what’s going on in their kid’s schools.”