They argued the fastest way to help students is keeping classrooms focused and leadership consistent while Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installs a conservator, selects a board of managers and searches for a superintendent.<\/p>\n
Molinar took the job in March after five months acting as interim. District mother Neisha Lomax hasn\u2019t agreed with every decision the short-time superintendent has made.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For example, she pointed to the closure of her two daughters\u2019 school<\/a>, Edward J. Briscoe Elementary, and the district\u2019s adoption of Bluebonnet Learning<\/a>, state-endorsed reading lessons for kindergarten through fifth grade that incorporate Bible stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regardless, Lomax said, the superintendent deserves a chance to see her plans through.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s brought structure to the classrooms,\u201d Lomax said. \u201cMy daughter is finally achieving well in math and science where she wasn\u2019t before.\u201d<\/p>\n Constant change would undo progress teachers and students have made<\/a>, Lomax said. Her message to state leaders: Let the families and communities have more of a say.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t just take it over and change everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD has cycled through four superintendents and two interim superintendents in 10 years. Priorities shifted as each leader had their own ideas on how to run a large, urban school system. Inconsistency contributed to students falling behind peers across the state.<\/p>\n Students don\u2019t have time to waste, said Melody Johnson, a former FWISD superintendent from 2005 to 2011 who wants Molinar to stay.<\/p>\n \u201cThe No. 1 thing we need is stability, direction, intense focus and doing the right thing every single day for kids,\u201d said Johnson, who promoted Molinar to principal of Oakhurst Elementary in 2007 and has known and mentored her for two decades. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at 13 years of low performance and changes in superintendents.\u201d<\/p>\n Pat Linares, a former Fort Worth ISD administrator who served as interim superintendent in the 2010s, has watched and mentored Molinar as she\u2019s risen from an elementary reading teacher to deputy superintendent to now superintendent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Linares can think of no one better to lead FWISD than Molinar.<\/p>\n \u201cShe brought us out of a time of tumultuousness and brought the city and the district back together,\u201d Linares said. \u201cShe has the integrity. She has the dedication to this district. Above all, she has the will, the drive, the tenacity and the fortitude to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Worth ISD\u2019s academic decline started in 2017 under Kent Scribner\u2019s superintendency<\/a>, according to Texas Education Agency data. The district went from 56% of all students meeting grade level in 2016 to a low of 25% in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Proficiency rates increased into the low 30s by the time Scribner exited in 2022<\/a> \u2014 and remained there until 2025.<\/p>\n Molinar became superintendent after Ang\u00e9lica Ramsey led Fort Worth schools for two years. Ramsey\u2019s tenure was marked by clashes with trustees<\/a>, deteriorating academics and loss of community trust<\/a>. Ramsey did not immediately respond to a request to comment.<\/p>\n Adults disagreeing ultimately took away from students, leaving Molinar to settle down the disruptions and chaos of the past few years, her supporters said. The takeover threatens to return FWISD to a similarly tumultuous state.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of instability is the worst thing that can happen when you are in the kind of situation we\u2019re in with student achievement,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd the needs of our kids in our school system are so incredibly critical right now.\u201d<\/p>\n That urgency stems from years of uneven progress. The Leadership Academy of Forest Oak Sixth Grade \u2014 the campus whose repeated F ratings on the state\u2019s academic accountability system triggered the state\u2019s intervention \u2014 was far from the only school that struggled. Several others have failed or underperformed multiple years in a row.\u00a0<\/p>\n Roughly a third of students across the district currently read on grade level, while slightly more than a quarter are on track in math.<\/p>\n Tom Harris, chair of the Fort Worth Mayor\u2019s Council on Education & Workforce, said the community should work with the state \u2014 and not lose ground already made under Molinar.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think Superintendent Karen Molinar has done a great job in the short time that she\u2019s been in the position,\u201d Harris said. \u201cGoing forward, she\u2019s already initiated a lot of the things that the state is contemplating. I\u2019m hopeful they\u2019ll take that into consideration as she goes through the interview process.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cShe is qualified to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n Molinar supporters want Morath to understand what she\u2019s accomplished in just seven months. Since March, Molinar has restructured academic leadership, closed underenrolled campuses to better distribute resources and formulated a districtwide turnaround plan focused on students and literacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Decisions on school closures and Bluebonnet Learning drew criticism. However, Molinar said they ultimately were in the best interest of students.<\/p>\n Johnson posed a question about the district\u2019s next leader: \u201cWhat is going to be brought in that\u2019s substantively different from what she is trying to put in place right now?\u201d<\/p>\n On campuses, the mood is tense, said Steven Poole, executive director of United Educators Association of Texas.<\/p>\n Educators are frustrated, he said, wanting to know what comes next. Molinar\u2019s credibility as a former Fort Worth ISD teacher matters, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe should be given a shot to continue forward,\u201d Poole said. \u201cWithout her leading the district, I can see a lot of turnover and turmoil in Fort Worth for quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n When the state took over Houston ISD in 2023, the district saw a sharp rise in teacher departures<\/a>, according to reporting from the Houston Chronicle<\/a>. By the start of this school year, 1 in 4 Houston ISD teachers were uncertified<\/a>, the newspaper reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fort Worth educators fear a similar exodus if uncertainty drags on, Poole said.<\/p>\n Mayor Mattie Parker brought up Houston ISD during a Thursday news conference, saying Morath can\u2019t have an apples-to-apples comparison of the two. Houston ISD faced a prolonged road to takeover as a result of a lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt created a chasm, a lot of political fighting in Houston. I really don\u2019t anticipate that here for a variety of different reasons,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n In August 2024, Parker said FWISD was in an \u201cunacceptable\u201d state<\/a> under Ramsey\u2019s leadership and called on trustees to step up<\/a> and turn around the district. A month later, Ramsey was out and Molinar was interim leader.<\/p>\n Parker wants Molinar to remain as superintendent but acknowledged the commissioner must go through the search process.<\/p>\n Tarrant County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare also has backed Molinar, citing her recognition of Fort Worth ISD\u2019s problems and her improvements for students.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate her efforts and look forward to seeing what Dr. Molinar and a new board can do to alter the trajectory of FWISD, ensuring a quality education for all students,\u201d O\u2019Hare said in a statement.<\/p>\n Still, Harris said the moment calls for cooperation, not brinkmanship. The business community\u2019s role now is to take a calm, thoughtful approach and to work hand in hand with Morath and his team, Harris said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it makes any sense at all to try to fight with the state of Texas and the commissioner,\u201d he said. \u201cOur community needs to support the process.\u201d<\/p>\n For Molinar, that process comes back to a single focus: Keeping students learning. It\u2019s why she wants to keep her job.<\/p>\n \u201cMy job is to get results for our students,\u201d she said. \u201cNot for adults. But for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0828-MorathVisit-21.jpg\")
Seventh graders work on an assignment in a class at Fort Worth ISD\u2019s William James Middle School on Aug. 28, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0812-FWISDFirstDay-13.jpg\")
Students and parents walk through the halls of Mary Louise Phillips Elementary in Fort Worth during FWISD\u2019s first day of school Aug. 12, 2025. (Maria Crane | Fort Worth Report\/CatchLight Local\/Report for America)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CAS_firstdayofschool-14.jpg\")
Mayor Mattie Parker talks to a pre-K student on the first day of school at Fort Worth ISD\u2019s T.A. Sims Elementary on Aug. 14, 2023. (File photo | Fort Worth Report) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Goss-TCBacktoSchoolRoundup06.jpg\")
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar greets families in line for the Tarrant County Back to School Roundup on Aug. 8, 2025, at Tarrant County College\u2019s South Campus in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
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