Fort Worth Independent School District’s Racial Equity Committee (REC) and Executive Director of Strategic Recruitment have allegedly advised the superintendent to hire fewer white employees.
According to FWISD Watchdog, the district’s REC and the new Executive Director of Strategic Recruitment, Mia Hall, “seem to be wanting to hire non-white teachers.”
“Is this why the FWISD has a teacher shortage because Dr. Ramsey, along with Ms. Hall’s influence, won’t hire teachers who are white,” FWISD Watchdog speculated.
In another post, the FWISD Watchdog claimed the REC is “secret and rogue since the meetings are not recorded or open to the public, despite the Texas Open Meeting Act’s (TOMA) requirement to allow the public to attend.”
Hollie Plemons, a mom and activist located in Fort Worth, told Texas Scorecard:
FWISD’s Racial Equity Committee began meeting in secret after I attended four of their public meetings and friends recorded them. The fourth meeting allowed me the opportunity to speak out about why I don’t agree with equity. In the following meetings, we were barred from entering. These are public meetings and they should be open to the public. It’s a violation of the Texas Open Meeting Act (TOMA) to deny the public the right to attend. Until someone sues them they will continue to break the law and hide their evil plans from the public.
FWISD Watchdog said the rogue nature of the REC is the reason two FWISD trustees—Anne Darr and Anael Luebanos—removed themselves from the committee over a year ago.
Currently, the committee is chaired by FWISD Trustee Quinton Phillips, with Trustees Roxanne Martinez and Wallace Bridges serving as members. However, the full membership list is not accessible to the public.
Hall—an elected trustee at Crowley ISD, a Fort Worth Zoning Commission member, a realtor for RE/MAX Trinity, and a candidate for Tarrant County Commissioner, PCT. 1—is heavily involved in the committee.
“Ms. Hall was the inaugural principal at Young Women’s Leadership Academy when it opened. She was allegedly put on leave for workplace bullying and possibly violating federal laws towards LGBT students,” FWISD Watchdog stated.
They continued, saying Hall is “leading the way” in convincing the district to hire fewer white staff members.
Some of the research Hall provided in a slideshow presentation claims that students of color are more likely to attend school and do well if they have a teacher of the same race.
“The slides further prove that equality and the REC are nothing more than a scam,” Plemons told Texas Scorecard. “The charts show that black principals and assistant principals are much more common than brown or white principals, but the population of students is predominantly Hispanic.”
She continued, “So by the REC’s logic, should FWISD fire all those black people just for being black and hiring brown people just for being brown? Ridiculous! Their racism is on full display in these slides, it’s illegal and flat-out wrong.”
According to Hall, the vision is to have an instructional workforce that “reflects our students’ racial and linguistic diversity.”
Plemons replied to the Facebook post, saying, “Don’t forget the past REC meetings where they were recommending they hire men over women… teaching has been a female dominated job for over a hundred years.”
The FWISD Watchdog says last November, FWISD superintendent, Angelica Ramsey, stated “black and brown kids in this country do not get the education they deserve because they are in a system that wasn’t built for them and that they integrated into a system that wasn’t built for them.”
FWISD Communications Coordinator Jessica Becerra told Texas Scorecard, “The mission of the Talent Management Division is to prepare all students for success in college, career, and community leadership by recruiting, hiring, and retaining the best employees and providing exceptional service to all of our customers.”
She said the Racial Equity Committee’s description can be found on their website.
“During the school year, when Board Committees meet, a written summary of their meetings is provided in the monthly Board agenda under BOARD COMMITTEE REPORT,” Becerra concluded.
However, Plemons remains firm in her belief that the REC is a rogue committee.
“In seeing the recent REC slides coupled with the meeting minutes from the last two meetings, it is clear that FWISD is breaking the law,” Plemons told Texas Scorecard. “To hire based on race and gender is a clear violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. FWISD should be hiring based on merit and qualifications, period.”
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
