Fort Worth school board District 7 candidates
Norman Robbins
Campaign website: www.robbinsforschools.com
Age: 73
Occupation: Realtor - Williams Trew Real Estate
Education: Arlington Heights High School - High School Diploma; Trinity University - Bachelor of Science in Business Administration; Trinity University - Master of Science in Business Administration; Harvard Business School - Accelerating Board Capacity Institute
Have you run for elected office before?
Yes, District 7 Fort Worth ISD Trustee since 2004
Please list highlights of your civic involvement:
Broad Fellow, The Broad Institute for School BoardsTexas Institute for School Boards - Center for Reform of School SystemsJunior Warden, Treasurer and Vestry Member - St.Andrew’s Episcopal ChurchPresident, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tarrant CountyPresident, Communities in SchoolsCompletion of School Board Empowerment Series and School Board Presidents Academy - New OrleansCompletion of Leadership ISD’s Board Presidents Academy - Fort Worth
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding?
No
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding?
No
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
Gordon R. England, R. Daniel Settle, Jr. & Eric V. Fox
Why are you seeking this office?
My passion for public education was first developed while on the staff of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and later in a community relations function at Lockheed Martin. Public education is the most important factor in the attraction of personal and business investment to a community. I am committed to high academic achievement by all of our students. The school board is committed to apply resources where they are needed the most, and student achievement has dramatically improved as a result. Our goal is to scale up the application of needed resources to all the schools in need to enable all of our students to achieve at their highest potential, and I look forward to continuing to participate in this process.
What are the biggest challenges facing your district?
1. Improved student achievement2. Adjustments to compensate for COVID-19. Hiring well-qualified teachers4. Enhanced parental involvement5. Implementation of operational efficiencies6. Securing additional resources
What would your top 3 policy priorities be?
1. Improved student achievement2. Hiring well-qualified teachers 3. Securing additional resources
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
I have a broad base of experience from serving on the school board and working within a corporate and non-profit business environment.
What are the biggest challenges facing your school district overall and the specific schools you seek to represent?
Improved student achievement by all students and the attainment of additional resources allowing us to scale up high student achievement at our lowest performing schools as rapidly as possible.
If you have children, do/did they attend school in the district?
Yes, all three of our grown children are Fort Worth ISD graduates and successful adults.
What’s the best way to help students recover from learning lost to the pandemic?
We now have the ability to determine where each student needs additional assistance and are able to take the students from where they are at present to where they need to be for high achievement. Individual teaching/tutoring/mentoring based on achievement data is the best way to achieve student progress in all subject areas.
As the pandemic wanes, how should Fort Worth schools use virtual instruction, if at all?
As a proponent of distance learning, I feel virtual instruction will be a permanent component of our instructional system going forward. Virtual learning affords us the opportunity of exposing our students to the greatest minds in the world. Additionally, it is a way of connecting schools without a wide variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses with schools that do have a wide variety of AP courses to make sure all students are able to achieve at their fullest potential.
Should the district attempt to significantly raise teacher pay? If so, how much, and how would you pay for it?
We must remain competitive within a very competitive local education market. We have been able to raise teacher pay, pay stipends to teachers to teach where the needs are the greatest and provide teacher bonuses. Additional resources are required to continue these efforts, and the district is committed to seeking those resources plus instituting operational efficiencies in order to divert resources into the classroom. The Fort Worth ISD had an outside efficiency expert study ways and means the district can operate more efficiently and is implementing the recommended suggestions.
School district taxes are the biggest driver of homeowners’ property taxes. Should the district try to reduce taxes and if so, what would you cut?
Unfortunately due to the unwillingness of the Texas Legislature to properly fund public education at the state level, our local taxpayers have had to make up the difference. Public education has still not fully recovered financially from the draconian cuts made by the legislature following the economic depression of 2008. Improvements in state funding were made in the last legislative session, and we are hopeful that additional funding will be provided during the current session. Were the state to provide its proportionate share of public education funding, our local district would be in a better position to consider a reduction in local taxes assuming that all students were receiving the necessary resources to be successful.
How would you rate the performance of the superintendent and his leadership team? What changes would you like to see him make?
The Fort Worth ISD Superintendent and his staff are doing an excellent job of keeping a singular focus on high student achievement. Whenever a weakness is identified, the Superintendent moves swiftly to make the necessary changes to meet our goals. Everything we do is focused on high student achievement, and the board is holding itself accountable to attaining that goal.
What problems do you see with the district’s communication with parents and the community, and/or with its transparency of operations? What would you do to improve that?
One of the policies and procedures that I am most concerned about is related to making sure that the Fort Worth ISD staff is aware of actions made by the school board ahead of (or if that is not possible) at the same time that the general public is informed of the actions. We have had situations in the past where staff was informed of decisions through the media, and that is not an acceptable way to build trust among staff members. I would also like to see us provide communication to constituents on a more timely basis even if all needed details are not known at a particular time. A lack of timely communication results in rumors and other issues which again adversely affect trust.
Michael Ryan
Campaign website: RyanforSchools.com
Age: 70
Occupation: Admissions Officer for the United States Naval Academy
Education: Ed.D. Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M, Commerce, M.Ed. Administration, Bachelor of Science in education, TCU, Bachelor of Music Education, TCU
Have you run for elected office before?
Yes, School Board 2017
Please list highlights of your civic involvement:
Admissions officer for the United States Naval Academy. I have served on boards with Boy Scouts, Ballet Concerto, Imagination Celebration, Fort Worth After School Program, T.C.U. Education Alumni council, TCU Ex-Bandsmen Association and the Fort Worth Rodeo and Stock Show Guns and Roses committee. I am a Paul Harris Fellow with Rotary International, served as a judge of school musical theatre for the Dallas Summer Musicals, and judged the Texas State High School Mariachi Contest.
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding?
No
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding?
No
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
United Educators Association, Shelby Nelson, David Hoffman
Why are you seeking this office?
To improve educational outcomes for every student, keep finances going to the classroom and not the boardroom, and provide better compensation for our teachers and para-professional staff.
What are the biggest challenges facing your district?
1.Students leaving the district for charter schools for perceived inequities, better educational opportunities, or divisive issues that they face.
2.A lack of communication between all stakeholders in the FWISD Community requires us to open lines of communication that includes all district stakeholders so every student can succeed and that every student, teacher, staff member, parent and community member is treated with dignity and respect.
3.Stable funding to provide critical resources and quality pay requires the board and community work with the legislature to end ineffective funding and have the state implement a lasting equitable financial solution to quality school funding.
What would your top 3 policy priorities be?
To improve educational outcomes for every student, keep finances going to the classroom and not the boardroom, and provide better compensation for our teachers and para-professional staff.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
Change from time to time is necessary for different ideas to be introduced to overcome established obstacles.
What are the biggest challenges facing your school district overall and the specific schools you seek to represent?
Declining enrollment financially affects the entire district. Too many school buildings are well past their ordinary life span and need to be replaced with buildings that are more energy efficient, have better connectivity and have a safer design to minimize hazards to students and staff. Benbrook must have a stand-alone high school, not a smaller combined facility that was previously a middle school. The district must evaluate the planned developments on the far west and southwest side to have elementary building ready as the developments start, not 5-7 years after they are completed. Planning must begin for the Walsh Ranch community so when the development starts on the area inside Fort Worth ISD, the district is ready for those families.
If you have children, do/did they attend school in the district? If not, why not?
My children were products of public schools in Texas. They both graduated before I returned to work in Fort Worth ISD.
What’s the best way to help students recover from learning lost to the pandemic?
Get them back into the classroom, evaluate the educational level of each student and prepare an individualized plan for remediation if necessary.
As the pandemic wanes, how should Fort Worth schools use virtual instruction, if at all?
It is a great way to keep in touch and provide lessons with students who have to miss in-person learning for illness, family emergencies or community wide civil emergencies.
Should the district attempt to significantly raise teacher pay? If so, how much, and how would you pay for it?
That should be a state priority, not only in current pay but in COLAS for retired teachers and ensuring an effective state retirement fund that does not require extremely high levels of local property tax support.
School district taxes are the biggest driver of homeowners’ property taxes. Should the district try to reduce taxes and if so, what would you cut?
We should always look at the most effective use of property tax revenue, not relying on it to fix every fiduciary problem but having the state return to Pre H.B. 72 percentages of funding.
How would you rate the performance of the superintendent and his leadership team? What changes would you like to see him make?
Acceptable but certainly not spectacular in many areas. Reduce the size of the central office administrative team, return the effective administrators to campuses and reduce the number of students in each class so there is a more effective student teacher ratio in all core curriculum classes.
What problems do you see with the district’s communication with parents and the community, and/or with its transparency of operations? What would you do to improve that?
In so many areas, the district has made great strides in communication with students, parents and community. With the help of the city, more effective networking connections could be made available for every citizen thereby allowing faster and even more efficient communication.
