Goals and guardrails are being established in Fort Worth ISD after the state takeover of the school district began in March.
It comes after the state-appointed board compiled survey results, analyzing feedback from about 3,000 respondents, many of whom were parents.
The survey found pushback against scripted lessons and a lack of teacher autonomy, and the board heard directly from parents and community leaders Saturday during a meeting that lasted nine hours.
Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, founding Executive Director of the advocacy organization Parent Shield Fort Worth, has two children in the Fort Worth school district. She joined NTX Now hosts Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning to share her insights about how the takeover has been going.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the conversation in full, click the 'listen' button above.
Dorsey-Hollins said, based on what she heard at Saturday's listening session, that teachers are being robbed of their autonomy and creativity when it comes to creating lesson plans for their classes.
"They're being so micromanaged, provided scripted lessons — many of them from AI," she said. "Much of the material that's being presented to the teachers is being presented incorrectly. It's inaccurate. So, teachers are having to not only teach the students, but also catch errors in the materials that they're presenting to our kids."
While Dorsey-Hollins admits that the district needed a change in curriculum, she does not think scripted lessons are the answer.
"The teachers in the classrooms are developing those relationships with the students—not only the students but the parents, too—so they're better able to serve and meet the students where they are, in those needs," she said. "These [scripted] lessons may not always have each student's best interest in mind."
The Fort Worth Report noted in its reporting on the survey that the racial and ethnic makeup of respondents differed from the district's student population. Among those who reported their race and ethnicity, 49.5% were white and 36.9% Hispanic. Meanwhile, about 12.6% of Fort Worth students are white and 65% are Hispanic. Dorsey-Hollins said despite her and others best efforts, she's worried the state-appointed board of managers is not hearing from enough parents and students of color.
"The organization, Parent Shield, we were out there promoting the survey," she said. "We were at school car lines passing out flyers in our community to get more people to take the survey. But one of the things that we were hearing was, 'Does it matter? Do they really care about what we have to say?' And so, while the word was able to be shared with a lot of our Black and brown families, they still don't believe that their voices are actually going to be heard and taken into consideration."
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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