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Fort Worth ISD superintendent gets another three years

Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Ang茅lica Ramsey speaks to guests and board members at a school board meeting on Aug. 30, 2022 at the Teaching and Learning Center, 1050 Bridgewood Drive.
Cristian ArguetaSoto
/
Fort Worth Report
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Ang茅lica Ramsey speaks to guests and board members at a school board meeting on Aug. 30, 2022 at the Teaching and Learning Center, 1050 Bridgewood Drive.

It took only 10 months for Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Ang茅lica Ramsey to convince the school board she should stay.

The school board approved a three-year contract extension for the superintendent, without a raise, at its July 25 meeting. The vote was almost unanimous, with Kevin Lynch abstaining.

Lynch declined to comment about why he abstained.

Ramsey鈥檚 pay will remain $335,000 a year for now. School board members will evaluate her again later in the school year, and her salary could change then.

The superintendent鈥檚 original contract had a start date of Sept. 21, 2022, and an end date of Aug. 31, 2025. Trustees have to evaluate the superintendent before the one-year mark, and school board president Dr. Camille Rodriguez said trustees decided months ago to conduct Ramsey鈥檚 evaluation at their July meeting.

The updated contract goes into effect immediately and extends to 2026.

鈥淚鈥檓 thankful for the board鈥檚 confidence to continue the work we鈥檝e started and our collective commitment to increase student performance, provide a positive school climate and work in partnership with our community in service of children,鈥 Ramsey said in a written statement.

Rodriguez said the board has confidence in Ramsey after her first months. Trustees are excited for Ramsey鈥檚 new hires and the new organizational chart she鈥檚 implementing, Rodriguez said.

Ramsey is to offset declining enrollment and a deficit.

Trustees think Ramsey鈥檚 early work will help improve academic achievement in the district, which is the board鈥檚 top priority, Rodriguez said.

鈥淲e had to regain the trust of the community,鈥 Rodriguez said. 鈥淎nd she is very focused and open about doing that and doing everything she can to make that happen.鈥

In her first 90 days, Ramsey hosted several listening sessions with the community. Rodriguez said the board appreciates how she listened to what people said and created a data-driven analysis for areas of improvement.

Using data to make decisions shows Ramsey isn鈥檛 implementing policies on a whim, Rodriguez said.

鈥淪he鈥檚 very open, and we discussed this last night, how transparent she is, and the board is aware of everything that鈥檚 going on in the district,鈥 Rodriguez said. 鈥淲e just wanted to show her we鈥檙e confident in her and we are excited about the way this district is heading.鈥

The board thinks the district is on a positive trajectory, Rodriguez said. Board members鈥 goal remains to give all students the best education possible.

鈥淲e know we鈥檝e had some issues in the past, and we have acknowledged them and we鈥檙e ready to move forward,鈥 Rodriguez said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure there鈥檒l be some issues in the future, there always is with a district this size, but we鈥檙e not going to hide and we鈥檙e going to take ownership and everything we do.鈥

Kristen Barton is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at kristen.barton@fortworthreport.org.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Kristen Barton is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. She has previous experience in education reporting for her hometown paper, the Longview News-Journal and her college paper, The Daily Toreador at Texas Tech University. To contact her, email kristen.barton@fortworthreport.org.