Superintendent Angélica Ramsey’s record with Fort Worth ISD is going under the microscope.
The school board called a special meeting for Sept. 17 to discuss Ramsey’s contract, a sign that trustees are considering whether she is the right top administrator amid questions about her leadership. The special meeting comes three weeks after Mayor Mattie Parker said a leadership vacuum existed in the school district after a decade of languishing and stagnant academic achievement.
The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the District Service Center, 7060 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Tensions between the school board and Ramsey, who receives an annual salary of $335,000, reached a boiling point after Parker spoke to trustees during their regular meeting in late August. In February, Ramsey said the school board breached her contract over differences about her evaluation.
In July, the school board gave Ramsey a $15,000 retirement bonus, the lowest contractually obligated amount, and did not extend her contract past its end date of July 26, 2026.
One of the school board’s primary responsibilities is to hire and evaluate — or fire — their school district’s superintendent, the sole district employee who reports directly to trustees.
The catalyst for Parker’s comments was, as she described it, the unacceptable state of Fort Worth ISD’s academic results.
State standardized test data from spring 2024 shows the district trailing 11 percentage points behind Dallas ISD, 14 points behind Houston ISD and 18 behind Brownsville ISD.
Across all subjects, 1 in 4 students in Fort Worth ISD met grade level. About 1 in 3 students met grade level in reading, while 1 in 4 met grade level in math.
Ramsey’s July evaluation was not based on state standardized test results.
The superintendent touted academic improvements when administrators released district-calculated and self-reported A-F accountability ratings for 2023 and 2024, two years when the state was legally barred from issuing official grades for Texas schools. Trustees questioned the unofficial ratings during a Sept. 10 school board workshop meeting.
Teachers throughout the district have also expressed frustration over Ramsey’s leadership. A group of educators told the Report they deal with mounds of paperwork to meet district leaders’ calls for data-driven instruction; technology issues that plague students and staff; and campuses that are limited in managing discipline issues.
The educators traced the impetus of these concerns to staffing cuts recommended by Ramsey in early 2024, which laid off campus instructional coaches, employees in the technology department and other specialists.
Ramsey has led Fort Worth ISD for two years. She was previously the superintendent of Midland ISD in West Texas for one year and eight months.
Jacob Sanchez is a senior education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @MatthewSgroi1.
