A group of around 200 parents and educators slowly entered the cafeteria at O.D. Wyatt High School. Conversation, and a sense of uneasiness, filled the room.
The Feb. 24 community meeting hosted by Fort Worth ISD officials was the first in a series that could help decide the fate of neighborhood schools across east Fort Worth. Trustees first saw a slate of more than 40 options during a Feb. 11 board meeting.
Families on the east side of the city have watched their schools struggle and their halls quiet as enrollment dwindles.
As district leaders detailed shrinking student numbers, aging buildings and a budget stretched to its limits, residents heard what they already knew — some schools will close. Communities will be asked to make sacrifices, district officials told the crowd.
Decisions will not happen all at once, nor will they come without community input, Superintendent-designate Karen Molinar stressed. Options presented, which included the potential closures of Harlean Beal Elementary and Morningside Middle School, were not “recommendations,” officials repeated 20 separate times during the meeting.
Attend a Fort Worth ISD facilities community meeting
Meetings about Fort Worth ISD’s options for school closures, consolidations and long-term plans for facilities will be held Feb. 26, Feb. 27 and March 3.
North Central Region Pyramid: 6-7 p.m. Feb. 26 at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
Southwestern Region Pyramid: 6-7 p.m. Feb. 27 at Benbrook Middle-High School
Online meeting about all schools: 6-7 p.m. March 3, Zoom
Más información sobre las reuniones comunitarias de Fort Worth ISD está disponible en español aquí.
“There is not a list, there’s no recommendations that are ready to go before the board to take action,” Molinar said. “This is a process and it’s a very long process.”
While some options are already financially plausible, others would need a voter-approved bond program to move forward, officials said.
And often, options presented to a community early in the process are not what’s eventually presented to the school board, district consultant Tracy Richter said. Rather, final options are a combination of community feedback and data analysis.
Click here to see the list of options for east Fort Worth ISD schools that was presented Feb. 24.
Final decisions expected by late 2025
Deputy Superintendent Kellie Spencer said trustees are expected to vote on final decisions by late 2025 — or later if needed. If approved, school closures would be implemented gradually over a five-year period, according to district officials during the Feb. 11 board meeting.
The process began two years ago, when Fort Worth ISD hired Hoar Program Management, an Alabama-based firm, to evaluate its facilities and recommend a long-term plan for them. The $2.7 million contract tasked the company with analyzing building conditions, enrollment trends and capacity issues across the district.
At the same time, trustees formed a committee of more than 100 residents — parents, educators and community members — to ensure community voices helped shape the future of the district’s schools.
The goal was to create a facilities master plan that aligns Fort Worth ISD’s shrinking enrollment with a sustainable number of campuses.
The immediate problem remains, according to the plan: Fort Worth ISD has 95,000 seats across its schools and only about 70,000 students to fill them.
With birth rates down, families moving to the suburbs and a growing number of students opting for charter schools and district leaders grappling with struggling academic performance, Fort Worth ISD has lost nearly 13,000 students over the past five years. By 2029, enrollment is projected to fall by another 6,556 students.
Closures could help with staffing challenges, costly repairs
Given the situation, some buildings sit nearly half-empty, consultant Richter said. Lowery Road Elementary in the Eastern Hills feeder pattern, for instance, holds a capacity of 903 students but enrolls 413. A.M. Pate Elementary in the Dunbar feeder pattern is only 39.8% full.
That makes it difficult to staff teachers and provide equitable resources across the district. School closures would fix that, he said.
“You’re redistributing the dollars where they’re more equitable to everybody,” Richter said. “It’s not about saving dollars … it’s making sure every student has an equitable chance of programs.”
While some campuses have 10 students to a classroom, others have 22, Spencer said.
School consolidations would reduce the total number of teachers needed, allowing the district to better allocate its educators, she said.
What are residents concerned about?
During the Feb. 24 meeting, district leaders and consultants addressed questions from parents and educators. Here are some of the key concerns raised:
What is the impact of school closures on neighborhoods?
Superintendent-designate Karen Molinar: “We recognize the value that you place in your neighborhood schools and we recognize how important that is to people who live within walking distance, specifically families who may not have transportation. All of those things will be taken into consideration as we work to develop a plan.”
If Fort Worth ISD is losing students to charter schools, what is it doing to compete?
Molinar: “We do ask our parents when they leave (why). Some of the reasons they leave are facilities. It’s hard when you look across the street and there’s a brand new facility. … We’re getting kids back as well. We’re getting kids back.”
How would Fort Worth ISD manage closed facilities?
Deputy Superintendent Kellie Spencer: “There are opportunities as we work within our communities and with nonprofit organizations, potentially, for those facilities to be reutilized as something else that benefits and meets the needs of the community in which it is. Because no decisions have been made, those determinations or thoughts have not necessarily evolved yet.”
Aging school buildings also require costly repairs, Richter said. Leadership Academy at Mitchell Boulevard, for instance, was built in 1954 and, as early as next school year, would be more costly for the district to renovate than to replace it, he said.
The district estimates that maintaining existing buildings would require more than $1.2 billion in facility investments five years from now if nothing changes. The district most recently passed a $1.2 billion bond in 2021. The district allocates $19 million annually for maintenance.
Options presented Monday night ranged from consolidating elementary schools to repurposing middle school campuses for alternative uses. Some proposals involved merging schools with declining enrollment, while others suggested rebuilding certain campuses.
In total, district leaders laid out multiple scenarios — some that could move forward with existing funds, and others that would require a bond measure in the future.
Residents want ‘sacrifices’ to be shared equally
Michael Collier, who graduated from Dunbar High School in 1989, understood the logic — too many schools, not enough students. Collier always thought the district had too many schools, even when he attended Dunbar High in the late-1980s, he told the Fort Worth Report.
But, he remains worried about how the burden of closures would be shared across the city.
“Whatever sacrifices need to be made on the east side, those same sacrifices have to be made on the west side,” Collier said. “That’s all we’re asking for.”
Not many want their school to close, though.
Resident Caleb Williams, the father of a De Zavala Elementary student, said at a Feb. 11 board meeting that decisions should ultimately be driven by the educational outcomes of children.
“I think if you have a school that has consistently low attendance, or is consistently low-performing or high violence, maybe some of those could be considerations,” Williams said. “But De Zavala doesn’t have any of those qualities.”
The district will continue to host meetings Feb. 26, Feb. 27 and March 3 to share the process, discuss potential impact of various options and ensure engagement.
Community members can share their input through the district’s survey, distributed in-person at meetings and open for responses until March 16.
Which east Fort Worth ISD schools could be affected?
Here is the full list of options presented Feb. 25. While some options are already financially plausible, others would need a voter-approved bond program to move forward.
Eastern Hills Pyramid
- Option 1 – No additional funding needed
- Close East Handley Elementary, merging students with Atwood McDonald Elementary.
- Rezone Leadership Academy at John T. White Elementary students from Meadowbrook Middle School to Jean McClung Middle School.
- Option 2 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Renovate Bill Elliott Elementary.
- Rebuild Atwood McDonald Elementary, merging East Handley Elementary students into the new building.
- Close East Handley Elementary, potentially repurposing the site.
- Rezone Leadership Academy at John T. White Elementary students from Meadowbrook Middle School to Jean McClung Middle School.
- Option 3 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Renovate Bill Elliott Elementary.
- Rebuild East Handley Elementary, merging Atwood McDonald Elementary students into a renovated Bill Elliott Elementary and the new building.
- Close Atwood McDonald Elementary.
O.D. Wyatt Pyramid
- Option 1 — No additional funding needed
- Close Harlean Beal Elementary, merging students with David K. Sellars Elementary.
- Option 2 — No additional funding needed
- Close Oaklawn Elementary, merging students with Glen Park and Mitchell Boulevard elementaries.
- Option 3 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Close Harlean Beal Elementary.
- Rebuild David K. Sellars Elementary, merging Harlean Beal Elementary students into the new school.
- Option 4 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Close David K. Sellars Elementary.
- Rebuild Harlean Beal Elementary, merging David K. Sellars Elementary students into the new school.
Dunbar Pyramid
- Option 1 — No additional funding needed
- Rebuild Maudrie Walton Elementary.
- Close Sunrise-McMillan Elementary, merging students to a rebuilt Maudrie Walton Elementary.
- Close A.M. Pate Elementary, merging students into Christene C. Moss Elementary.
- Option 2 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Rebuild Maudrie Walton Elementary.
- Close Maude Logan Elementary, merging students into rebuilt Maudrie Walton Elementary.
- Rebuild either A.M. Pate Elementary or Christene C. Moss Elementary, closing the other and merging students from the closed school into the new building.
- Renovate Sunrise-McMillan Elementary.
- Option 3 — Would need the school board to call for a bond election
- Close Sunrise-McMillan Elementary.
- Rebuild Maudrie Walton Elementary, merging Sunrise-McMillan Elementary students to the rebuilt school.
- Rebuild either A.M. Pate Elementary or Christene C. Moss Elementary, closing the other and merging students from the closed school into the new building.
- Renovate Maude Logan Elementary, merging students east of Miller Avenue from S.S. Dillow Elementary currently in the Polytechnic pyramid to the Dunbar pyramid.
Polytechnic Pyramid
- Option 1 — No additional funding needed
- Close S.S. Dillow Elementary, merging students into D. McRae Elementary and T.A. Sims Elementary.
- Close Edward Briscoe Elementary, merging students into Carroll Peak Elementary, Morningside Elementary and Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary.
- Close Morningside Middle School, merging students to William James Middle School.
- Option 2 — No additional funding needed
- Close S.S. Dillow Elementary, merging students east of Miller Avenue to Maude Logan Elementary in Dunbar pyramid, all others to McRae Elementary and T.A. Sims Elementary.
- Close Edward Briscoe Elementary, merging students into Carroll Peak Elementary, Morningside Elementary and Van Zandt-Guinn Elementary.
- Close Morningside Middle School, merging students to William James Middle School.
Districtwide choice schools and special programs
- Relocate World Languages Institute to a central district site, move it to Morningside Middle School location, or remain at the current location with facility upgrades, which would require the school board to call for a bond election.
- Relocate Boulevard Heights School and Transition Center to a one-story building.
- Create a partnership for athletic facilities for Young Women’s Leadership Academy, or relocate to a larger site for full athletics, parking, etc.
- Decide between consolidating Riverside Applied Learning Center into Bonnie Brae Elementary, consolidating it into another Northside elementary school to be determined or closing the campus and program entirely.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.