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Sylvia Reyna, chief of administration for the Fort Worth school district who has been promoted by a group of LULAC members to be considered for the next superintendent of the district, officially took her name out of consideration by issuing the following statement, in part, via email to her supporters and board members yesterday:

I am humbled by the support I have received from the LULAC organization and from numerous persons in our community to apply for the position of Superintendent of the Fort Worth Independent School District.  Though I sincerely and wholeheartedly appreciate the kind expressions of support, I want to let you know that I have not applied and will not apply for the position.  While I certainly feel that I have the credentials, experience and qualifications to lead this or any other school district, it is not the right time for me to place my name for consideration.  With that said, I do feel that that are many other qualified candidates who can assume the helm of this great district, including our current Interim Superintendent, Walter Dansby.  I have always been and will continue to be a loyal employee of FWISD and support Mr. Dansby as he serves as our Interim Superintendent.  In addition, should he be selected as our Superintendent, Mr. Dansby will continue to receive 100% of my support.

Con mucho cariño, Sylvia R. Reyna, Ph.D.

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With Reyna stepping out of the picture, the only in-house candidate is interim super Dansby, a Fort Worth native who has been with the district for 38 years in different positions from teacher to coach to principal to deputy superintendent to his current post. According to trustees, the board will go through the list of applicants next week and will begin interviewing those chosen the second week in January. No applicants’ names have been released. However, support for Dansby remains high, according to several board members, because of his knowledge of the district, his record as an educator, his background, having been raised in the low-income community of Stop Six by parents who encouraged him to get an education, and his record of openness and transparency.  The only glitch in his qualifications when he was appointed was the fact that he had not yet taken the test for a superintendent’s certification even though he had done the course work, he told Fort Worth Weekly in an earlier interview. He recently took and passed the test, clearing the way for his permanent appointment if the board so chooses. If that happens, he will be the first African American full-time superintendent of the district, which is now over 80 percent minority.

16 COMMENTS

  1. In other words, let’s spend thousands more on a bogus search, when in fact the “board”, minus racist Robbins, will ALL vote for Dansby! So, did Reyna strike a deal with someone to not be fired, in exchange for dropping out of the race for super??? Her sugary description of supporting Dansby all of a sudden is so freaking obvious! Yeah, let’s keep the “old regime” the one that the board is used to manipulating into submission…so they can have more time to bury the bodies!!! What’s changed? Nothing, except maybe Jay Leno will soon poke fun at FWISD for stupid media attention regarding Santa! This district continues to be a disgrace…and from the look of things…a powerful one that is beyond reproach!

  2. and we expect our students to be successful. would love to know what deal was struck to keep her job. she is over the most corrupt depts. interesting transactions…

  3. She knew that her chance to be the Super was 0.01%. How many members LULAC have? If she counted with that support, well, she could have 11 votes.

    Dansby should do the same. He needs to drop his name from the pool. He should have the credentials and the reputation but his won’t be able to fire the people who have embarrassed and have proven to be incompetents. We have not seen any improvement or any positive thing that have happened since he took the post. He has been enforcing what haven’t worked.

  4. LULAC is a farce in Tarrant County and their support of Reyna was a slap in the face to the latino community. Where was lulAc when Melody Johnson and her minions widen the achievement gap? It is a good thing that Reyna did not apply. Reyna sees the writing on the wall. She pledges support to Dansby a bit too late! Her head should have rolled after the 13 million SNAFU

  5. We know who is truly running FWISD and that is UEA. We know that UEA is very cozy with upper admin. We need someone is willing to stand up to UEA and stop hurting our kids. The union bullies its way into everything and protects those who sit and earn a paycheck without regard to the children.
    We need to clean house all together….. do what is right!

  6. I think LULAC’s support gave her bargaining power with Dansby and the board…she is not stupid! Lots of backs being scratched!

  7. More horrific scandals will soon come to light which Reyna was directly involved in. A 13 million dollar loss due to pure insubordination would have cost anyone else their job. This is a pompous person of privilege – known as “the Princess” for her condescending attitude toward employees. Her LULAC “supporters” are from Arlington – NOT Fort Worth. A self-seeking opportunist who needs to go back to San Antonio. She should take Monge, Mendoza, Buckner and rest of the corrupt gang with her.

  8. Hold on to your hats readers! Rumors already surfacing about Dansby being named Super, as early as next week! Wow! How convenient don’t you think? Deals were made…no mistake about it! I hope this district is ready for an even bigger mess of epic proportions! Dansby better shake things up for the good or he too will be out the door! No evidence of good change…be warned, this ain’t over till the fat lady sings!

  9. Well, if they are so adamant to make Dansby the Super that would be a grotesque mistake from the members of the board. If you hiring a permanent marionette, make sure you are able to pull the strings. The danger of making him the permanent superintendent is that most of the people who have demonstrated being incompetents are still sitting in their post and embarrassing our city. UEA will be the winner of this promotion because they will be able to manipulate him and the system.

    Tell me what has he done to improve the system? UEA is playing the game. Are you going to bring your old folks from Tocco’s regime and keep the ones who are still messing up the system?

  10. well said maria! reyna’s payoff was to remain until able to retire. just like all the others that are waiting on retirement doing absolutely NOTHING! the old regime continues to be protected while children continue to suffer. stirring same crap with same spoon.

  11. If you bring someone from the outside they will not know the history and you will continue to see the same mess. Mr Dansby has ordered an audit on why Reyna’s mistake happened. When you take over a regime of bullying and corruption like Melody had for 6 years, it’s hard to change overnight. As an employee, I am thankful for his leadership and would like to see him continue!

  12. Maria, you are so right. anytime the district wants to get something done it has to be blessed by UEA. We all know that he and UEA are hand in hand. people in the district who care about kids, follow policy and do the right thing are then lambasted by UEA and bullied. You want to see bullying just do something that UEA doesn’t like and boy you better get ready to hear it and not get backed by the same people who put the policies in place.
    Let’s not be fooled by any changes, change is how much money they may give themselves because the rest are not getting one extra cent.
    Many time at meeting you hear the top people say, we are going to do this and that, teachers who are not teaching need to go, etc, etc and when someone tries then UEA (god) steps in and miracles happen. Nowhere in any of the conversations is there talk about improving education, kids lives, it’s about what the next person is going to get out of the pie which is controlled by a few. Sad to see it but it’s there. For good employees the only choice is to jump ship and find another one before this one crashes.
    Everything comes to an end and this will be no different. Those of us working for the kids, will try our best and hope that we make some difference.
    WAKE UP!

  13. With all that has been said, the only thing I beg to differ on is calling Reyna’s BLATANT insubordination toward Dansby and the Board by retaining 90+ retire/rehires a mistake. It was intentional. It is business as usual for Monge, Mendoza, Buckner, Everest and the rest. $13 million of teacher salary was diverted to fund these do nothing bureaucrats AFTER the Board voted to release them. On top of all of that, she continued to hire MORE former principals who are double dipping. Dickerson and Needham did not want to “blame anyone by naming them”. They need to go to jail with her. Why else did Dickerson leave now?

  14. I thought they were not supposed to rehire retirees? That is what is wrong with Reyna. With this economy and people out of work there should be others that could bring new ideas in into classrooms

  15. Clarity is correct. I believe the Board voted at the urging of Ann Sutherland, to eliminate 190+ of the trehire/retirees then on the rolls. Reyna refused to do so. Given the way she was defended by Dickerson, Needham, Robbins and Jackson (who coincidently did not vote in favor of this), this FRAUD and INSUBORDINATION happened with their knowledge. That designated funding was why 200+/- teacher positions were unfunded under the approved budget. The Board should move NOW to demand her resignation and anyone else involved in it – Monge, Mendoza, Buckner, Ray etc. etc. This does not include the newly hired retired principals brough on after the budget was approved de-funding such positions.

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