Fort Worth school district’s Board of Managers voted on Tuesday to implement another reduction in force despite overwhelming, often aggressive pushback from parents and community members during a marathon board meeting that included over six hours of public comments.
Tuesday’s approved cuts impact staff members in the departments of Talent Management, Communications and Community Partnerships and Financial Services. The board voted unanimously to approve the reduction in force. Most of the cuts are related to positions that assist Early Language Learners.
The following positions will be affected, according to the meeting agenda:
- Postsecondary Specialists
- Campus Administrative Assistants – College and Career Readiness (CCR)
- SET Teachers/LC Elementary Teachers
- Executive Director – Emergent Bilingual programs
- Director – Secondary Emergent Bilingual
- Director – Elementary Emergent Bilingual
- Coordinators – Elementary Emergent Bilingual
- Coordinators – Secondary Emergent Bilingual
- Coordinators – Dual Language K-12
- Coordinators – ESL (English as a Second Language) K-12
- Analyst – Emergent Bilingual Budget
- Analyst – SpEd (Special Education) Budget and Grants
- Specialists – Restorative practices
- Specialists – Equity & Excellence
- Coordinator – Restorative practices
- Administrative Assistant – Adolescent Pregnancy
- Director – Elementary Literacy
- Director II – Learning and Leading (Academic Initiatives)
- Analyst- Learning and Leading
- Director – CCMR (College, Career, and Military Readiness )
- Specialists – CTE (Career and Technical Education) Instructor
- Specialist – Assessment
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Trailer Teachers (Grade 1-6 STEM)
- Director – Compliance, Related Services and Special Programs
- Director – Evaluation, Child Find and Psychological Services
- Managers – ARD (Admission, Review and Dismissal) Committee
- Speech Therapy assistants
- Speech Therapists – part time
- Occupational Therapist – part time
- Physical Therapist – part time
- Specialists – Diagnostic Evaluation – part time
- Psychologists – part time
The staff cuts come after days of intense debate and passionate difference of opinion from parents and education leaders across Fort Worth who argue the district would be worse off with less ESL, speech therapy and bilingual-related staffers. Superintendent Peter Licata said there will not be any less ESL, ELL, or emergent bilingual instruction, and argued it would actually be stronger…