Fort Worth ISD students took to the District Service Center on the night of May 20 with a message: Keep their schools open.
For their teachers. For their friends. For their education.
“I think Edward J. Briscoe is one of the best schools and the teachers are so kind,” elementary student Aniyah Henderson told trustees.
Beside her, fellow Briscoe Eagle Deshawn Alexander said the campus gave him confidence and a sense of belonging. Groups of students from J.T. Stevens Elementary, De Zavala Elementary and Riverside Applied Learning Center said the same of their schools.
But, following a 35-minute executive session and a meeting that lasted past midnight, Fort Worth ISD trustees voted 8-0 to close Briscoe and 13 other campuses over the next four years as part of a closure plan balancing enrollment and resources across the district. Trustee Wallace Bridges was absent. No discussion followed the vote.
Superintendent Karen Molinar assured students their teachers and programs would follow them to new campuses.
“When we talk about efficiency, when we talk about operational alignment, it is creating those spaces that are best for our students.” Molinar said.
The vote finalizes a district plan developed with Alabama-based Hoar Program Management. Fort Worth ISD leaders say it’s a response to two converging crises: aging infrastructure and declining enrollment.
The district has lost nearly 13,000 students since 2019 and expects to lose 6,500-plus more by 2030.
At the same time, it faces an estimated $1.2 billion in necessary building repairs, a bill officials say the district can’t afford.
By closing underused schools, the district projects it will save more than $77 million over five years. The savings, officials said, will be reinvested into classrooms, including more pre-K seats, dyslexia screeners, literacy supports and science, technology and math programs.
DeZavala, Briscoe advocates protest decision
Some speakers questioned whether the closures truly reflect those priorities — and who would bear the brunt of the decision.
De Zavala Elementary, which earned an A-rating in the state’s recently released 2023 accountability scores, will close in June 2027. Several speakers noted it serves a student body more representative of Fort Worth ISD’s demographics than many campuses left off the list.
Gabe Moreno, a father of two De Zavala students, told trustees that parents with the means to move their children to another school do so.
“From where I stand, it seems the district has made it too easy for white families to self-segregate,” he said.
Another De Zavala parent, Heather Tolksdorf, pointed to what she saw as inconsistencies in how the district applied its criteria for determining which schools to close.
“When you fail to use data consistently, you fail to make data-driven decisions,” Tolksdorf said. “This is a failure of due process in our district, in which faulty formulas and an inconsistent application of data are exposing us to risk.”
Rev. Donald Wilson agreed. The pastor of Mt. Ararat Missionary Baptist Church, less than a mile from the campus, told trustees he couldn’t understand why Briscoe — a school constructed in 1980 — would close while older campuses nearby would remain open.
“That’s kind of strange,” Wilson said. “If you move students into those older schools, you’re going to have to add things. But you have Briscoe, a nice building with space to grow. Doesn’t it make more sense to invest in that?”
For others, the decision, while painful, was necessary.
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, executive director of Parent Shield, a Fort Worth-based, parent-led education advocacy group, urged trustees to act boldly in the face of academic need. Trustees could either invest in buildings or in students, she said.
“Schools are closing because kids cannot read,” she said. “If our students in the district were able to read on grade level, parents would not be running away from the district. Instead, they’d be running to it.”
With the vote, the district will begin its first wave of closures under the facilities plan following the 2025-26 school year. Another 12 campuses are expected to follow in phases through 2029.
Previously approved closures at S.S. Dillow Elementary and Eastern Hills Elementary will take place after Fort Worth ISD’s last day of school on May 22.
The district will evaluate attendance boundaries, offer transportation where needed and work to preserve programs like applied learning, officials said.
To many of the students who spoke, including Briscoe fourth grader Joselyn Odokopir, closures were personal.
“All of us kids want to stay at the school because of all the great things there,” Odokopir said.
She hoisted a trophy high above her shoulders. Just five months ago, Briscoe students packed their cafeteria for the launch of the district’s annual Readers Become Leaders competition.
They were the reigning champions — proud of their school, their teachers and their future.
“We even won this trophy!” she said.
Briscoe will now have one last chance to reclaim the trophy before its doors are expected to close for good in June 2026. One final, proud memory.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
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