Fort Worth ISD candidates vow superintendent accountability after resignation, replacement

The Fort Worth ISD school board recently flexed its superintendent accountability power.

Throughout 2024, trustees faced a fraught relationship with Angélica Ramsey, the then-superintendent, over how to grade her performance and leadership. Their disagreement eventually boiled over into Ramsey resigning and the school board finding a new leader.

The situation illustrated the key responsibility of a school board member: hiring, evaluating and firing a superintendent. Now, six candidates seeking three seats want to be in the room where that happens and become one of the nine voices providing high-level direction to the superintendent and holding her accountable.

The winners of the May 3 election will almost certainly be part of Superintendent Karen Molinar’s first evaluation. Her contract calls for trustees to assess her performance no later than Oct. 31 each year.

Molinar will be graded based on Fort Worth ISD’s five-year strategic plan. The evaluation also will be based upon the superintendent’s monthly progress presentations during school board meetings.

Trustee Camille Rodriguez stood alone from her eight fellow school board members in September. She was the only trustee to dissent on Ramsey’s resignation.

Ramsey did not have enough time to make meaningful change, the trustee said. Rodriguez, who was school board president for Ramsey’s last year, described the former superintendent’s evaluations as good and said her exit was not because of academic achievement.

“Stability is very important,” Rodriguez said. “I just didn’t see a reason for the change.”

Now, the school board needs to support Molinar and hold her accountable, Rodriguez said.

Amanda Inay, Rodriguez’s challenger, said superintendent accountability must be ongoing. Under Ramsey, Inay rarely saw her report how students were performing, especially as the superintendent’s tenure neared its end, Inay said.

If elected, Inay expects to see monthly data presentations from Molinar as a way to ensure transparency on her leadership and the district’s direction.

At the end of the day, Inay plans to advocate for students and teachers. Her accountability of the superintendent will align with those priorities and ensuring district leadership puts resources where they are most needed, Inay said.

“It’s just continuing to expect those monthly reports … and asking questions and holding her accountable to that data and to make sure that it’s improving,” said Inay, a former Fort Worth ISD educator who now teaches at Rocketship Public Schools, a charter network.

The school board adjusted its evaluation tool for Molinar after points of contention with Ramsey, trustee Michael Ryan said. During the kerfuffle, Ramsey accused the school board of breaching her contract.

In July 2024, Ramsey received a $15,000 bonus deposited in her retirement account for meeting key performance indicators. Because of the way Ramsey’s contract was written, trustees had to round up on data. Without rounding, she would not have received a bonus, Ryan said.

Molinar will be graded differently. Trustees will look at the goals, see if she has reached the next level and offer a one-year extension. The process is simpler, Ryan said.

“If the board can come to an agreement on that, it makes it simple. We don’t pay bonuses. If we do well, our teachers do well, you’ll do well,” Ryan said of Molinar’s performance. “How we hold her accountable is with where our scores are going. I’m hoping that will push us forward.”

Candidate Terry Roach said Ryan and the entire school board should be held accountable for hiring Ramsey, whom he described as a bad hire, not having gravitas and lacking the right experience to lead Fort Worth ISD. Ramsey previously led Midland ISD, a West Texas school district with more than 25,000 students.

“ Anyone who voted for Ramsey and then sent her packing with half a million dollars should be held accountable,” Roach said, referring to the payout Ramsey received upon resigning. “If there’s somebody else on the ticket who’s running, who has the pedigree, the background, I’m going to vote for that person over anyone who hired Ramsey.”

As for Molinar, Roach disregarded her monthly updates at school board meetings as being like a “10-day weather forecast.” He wants the school board to push the superintendent to discuss what’s happening in the district and get involved in day-to-day operations.

“Holding the superintendent accountable means not wasting board meetings focused on endless data,” Roach said.

The biggest way trustees will hold the superintendent accountable for her performance is through the strategic plan, said board President Roxanne Martinez. The plan features goals for the entire district, such as improvements in reading scores on the state standardized test.

Ultimately, it’s up to the superintendent how to execute the strategic plan, Martinez said. The school board provides high-level direction, while the superintendent focuses on the day-to-day operations.

A new dashboard providing real-time monitoring progress also will be useful, Martinez said.

“That’s not only going to hold board members more accountable to the community. That then translates to board members holding the superintendent accountable,” Martinez said. “I’m looking forward to a system that’s going to be more transparent and accountable.”

Robyne Kelly, Martinez’s challenger, wants to see frequent updates on the superintendent’s progress on the strategic plan. Trustees, she said, have to remind the district’s leader of areas for improvement or question the superintendent’s decisions.

Kelly said she was not afraid to ask questions because her job as a trustee would be to serve the community.

Kelly was aware of the circumstances around Ramsey’s tenure.

“I don’t really have any thoughts. I’m just aware that those things happened, and, OK, it’s my time to step up and say Fort Worth ISD is worth fighting for, worth saving,” Kelly said.

Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. 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 Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.