Fort Worth ISD’s new leader is officially running the show. Karen Molinar was named interim superintendent at a school board meetings Tuesday. NBC 5 education reporter Wayne Carter reports Molinar is a 27-year veteran of the district, and had been the number two under Angelica Ramsey, who resigned two weeks ago.
The Fort Worth ISD School Board called their first and only meeting to sit and decide who would be the new interim leader of the school district after they negotiated with Angelica Ramsey for her to voluntarily leave her position as superintendent.
Before they met, they heard from the public who said things like: "Whoever this person is, sounds like to me it's very well known at this point."
Legally, the board is supposed to only talk about these things as a group, together in a public meeting.
But if you talked to teachers, principals, politicians and they'll all tell you, that certain board members and even the mayor had all shared for more than a week that Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar would be the interim leader.
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Sure enough, after that required meeting happened she was named.
"I actually met with a group of teachers this past Thursday at the UEA representative meeting, heard some of the same concerns, immediately brought it back to our senior staff, and will continue to do so," said Molinar in a district called press conference. "Our teachers are our core."
NBC 5 wanted to know, how the decision to name Molinar was so widely known in Fort Worth when officially the legally required conversations around the decisions as a group had not happened.
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Privately two board members shared that no one had a single discussion with them about the interim leader as her name was being shared around Fort Worth as the board's choice.
We asked board members about that process at the press conference announcing Molinar's appointment. They refused to answer any questions. We asked them anyway, and they just started forward.
"We were told that you were going to be taking questions," one reporter asked at the conference.
"By who?" a board member responded.
Well, it's right that the press release sent out by the Fort Worth ISD communications office inviting reporters to the district headquarters. It states that the board would be available for interviews.
Still, they refused to give them and stood silently.
There were questions about Molinar's name being publically shared by leaders not even in the building and questions from the community about Ramsey's nearly $950,000 payout to leave the district.
"Did we not carefully review the resignation and the stipulations that came with it, which is why we're having to write all of these big checks?" One speaker asked in a public comment session of Tuesday night's meeting. "I know five of you are up for reelection. I hope you're reading my shirt, 'vote,' it applies to everyone."
