Fifty-five teachers left Fort Worth ISD in August, compared with 21 in August of each of the previous two years, according to district records the Fort Worth Report obtained with a public records request and reported Sunday.
Close to 70% of this year's August departures took effect on or after Aug. 10, the first day of classes, the Report found. That same month, 57 employees who were not teachers also left, among them nurses, custodians, speech therapists and administrative assistants.
The records do not explain the increase. Former employees who talked to the Report gave varied reasons: family needs, the closing of their campus and, for some, the more rigid teaching approach introduced under the district's state-appointed leadership.
A 20-year teacher told the Report he learned less than a week before school started that he would teach fifth-grade math and science at Rolling Hills Elementary. He said required lesson pacing, daily retention quizzes and district slides that did not match those quizzes left him overwhelmed, and he resigned for health reasons within weeks. He now teaches at a charter school.
A longtime family and consumer sciences teacher said the uniform lesson structure did not fit hands-on career and technical classes; she left in early August.
The district's view
Denisha Presley, FWISD's chief of talent, told the Report the district tracks every departure but that the August number alone is misleading. The district began last school year with 239 open teaching jobs, she said, and this year vacancies have stayed below roughly 40 at any one time.
