FORT WORTH, Texas — The superintendent for Fort Worth Independent School District has a long list of campus visits that will take her well into next year. But right now, is extremely important because of the heat wave, which is forcing some schools to change their day-to-day operations.
Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Angelica Ramsey does surprise visits to classrooms across the districts about twice a week.
Ramsey's goal is to visit each and every school in the district. It is a unique opportunity to meet with principals, teachers and students in their own environments, as well as a chance for educators to share with her what is working and what is not working -- whether it's a simple policy and procedure or a complex issue that would improve the learning process, something that Ramsey makes priority.
"I will go to certain grade levels so that I can start to see patterns where maybe we need to push in additional support or I can see really bright spots to then take back and say there's some great things happening at this school or in this classroom," said Ramsey.
The district will soon be introducing a new math curriculum. Fort Worth ISD 4th and 8th grade test scores decreased in 2022 from pre-pandemic in 2019 according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a trend seen nationwide.
The district saw no change in reading scores in the same time period for those grade levels. In some cases, Fort Worth ISD students outperformed students from local private charter schools on the STAAR reading tests.
Fort Worth ISD had a rough start to the school year due to the Texas heat. During the first week of school a contract employee for the City of Fort Worth accidentally struck an underground line which led to about eight schools having air conditioning issues.
About 2% of the district's campuses and buildings dealt with HVAC issues. During Ramsey's visits, she inquires about the principal's hot weather alternative plans that will keep both teachers and students safe. Despite back-to-back 100 degrees days, the district ended the second week of school with good percentages.
"I would say that 98.5% of air conditioning is working is an amazing statistic," said Ramsey, "We have a lot of buildings and a lot of spaces. So, we had a few spaces that are throughout the school district. I think there were 20 schools that had maybe an office or a classroom that didn't have it working for us."
These 100-degree days also means no outside recess. Instead, Ramsey said teachers pivot by doing fun activities in class.
The superintendent also has a contingency plan in place as they monitor Tarrant County COVID numbers on the rise, telling students repeatedly to wash their hands.
"Just like probably every other school district, especially because we're in our last year of Esser Funds, that safe return to school plan is still in place," said Ramsey, "And so, our communicable disease plan is still in place. We know now in the aftermath of the COVID closures, what to do."
Ramsey said she will likely wrap up her district-wide unannounced school visits sometime after the start of the new year.