SHARE

Last week, members of the Tanglewood Neighborhood Association turned the Tanglewood Elementary School auditorium into an interrogation room for Fort Worth School District Superintendent Walter Dansby. After the emergency meeting, Static overheard a district consultant tell someone, “Tough room.”

Parents voiced their concerns over a proposed option in the upcoming bond package that would move Tanglewood students to a new campus south of Hulen Street and thus out of the neighborhood. The meeting started with consultants, Dansby, and school board trustee Judy Needham discussing proposals on how to spend potential bond money. The crowd perked up at “option three,” which called for Tanglewood students to be moved to the new campus, and the school to be converted into a sixth-grade center.

Once the presentation was over, the barrage began. At times, Dansby and the consultants looked disorganized, bordering on clumsy. Dansby said redrawing school boundaries wasn’t a possibility, despite the fact that two of the three options presented by the consultants called for boundaries to be redrawn.

FWW Women 300x250

“You don’t know what’s on your own slides,” yelled a parent from the crowd.One of the most passionate speakers was Jennifer Floyd Engle a.k.a. “The Little Ball of Hate,” a longtime sportswriter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram who now writes for FOX Sports. Her daughter attends Tanglewood Elementary.

“I’m certainly not here to talk about what was proposed by consultants who neither live here nor do their kids go to school here,” she said. “ I keep hearing how this makes me an elitist, wanting an exemplary school for my 4-year-old to attend… . I think that makes me a parent.”

When the dust settled, Needham, Dansby,  and other district officials made it clear to the crowd that moving students out of Tanglewood and redrawing school boundaries was off the table.

It turns out all you need to change the district’s mind is a large group of people and a little ball of hate.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Nice bit of fluff. We all know Dansby and the board back off when the public really stands up. Now could you please look into why the district is trying to push through this bond so fast? Will you look into details of the bond to find out which trustees district benefits the most? Why they think we need to spend money on astro turf practice fields but according to the proposal only “refreshing” classroom furniture, whatever that term means? The Weekly has done good work in reporting on the district especially w/Joe’s case. Let’s see if you can do an equally good job on the bond.

  2. Why does everything have to be about Joe in this paper? Do some real investigative reporting and look at the past bond election
    Do you really think they know how much money they have? Remember the Payroll fiasco During the last bond! Then they over hired teachers. What system are they using? Or is it going to líne up the pockets of Dansby’s friends? Dansby in charge of last bond? Hahaha what a joke on the taxpayer! new board needed just say no to bond!

    • yes. Moss has given Dansby the blessing to run the board and make the agenda as he sees fit. But you don’t hear Moss saying much about her boy.

      Don’t forget next board election coming up in 2015! will you be present?

    • To PP,
      Why Joe? Because it was Joe’s case which began turning the lights on the darkness of corruption which is FWISD. It is only by his trial that more of this crap is going to be exposed.

  3. This is what you get when you put someone in place who is a coach and only knows one thing and that is to make plays out of the air. Yes they thought that by pushing the bond quickly people would not notice and have not time to truly discuss it. Guess they forgot and now they are backtracking. There are so many deals inside the bond.. An event center that would be built by the farrington field thus creating money through renting the venue. All of these extras that do not get rid of portables and make our classrooms viable. They are so greedy with money and not worried about budgeting. The company they are using never talked to principals or the people of the communities to see what they needed. Once again deals in secret. We have the same board members the ones that are still there who keep pushing things without public comment. How many times has your board member done a town hall meeting to discuss or at least let you know what they are thinking of doing? Not much because they don’t want to be held accountable. I am glad that the association stood up but there are many who are out of the loop that this would have been a slam dunk. Wake up Fort Worth.. if you don’t do it then you can’t complain later

  4. Headline in the Telegram, Walter told the Paschal meeting that PHS will get 28 new classrooms out of the bond. After kissing Tanglewoods butt to get their support he wants to buy the rest of the PHS attendance zone w/ classrooms. The temerity of this board and Dansby is amazing. Needham suddenly cares about classrooms and says we should get kids out of portables and into 1st class classrooms . That harriden hasn’t cared about that since she’s been on the board. I harp about this but these bastards want to spend millions but won’t replace broken desks, tables, chairs, or other equipment in the classrooms across the district. The caost of an astro turf practice field would go a long way to do just that but I guess it’s harder to steal from something like an office equipment budget than it is a constuction project. Year after year I’ve seen the same busted ass desks in the same classrooms w/ kids struggling to stay in them because the frame is bent or write on the torn up desk tops. Everyone needs to email their trustee and tell them to vote against putting the bond on the Nov. ballot. Do it before 8-23 or there won’t be any chance it won;t be there. CIA you’re right about Moss. She’ll let Walter run the board meetings just like Sims did.

    • Now three bond proposals. I would go with the one that covers only classrooms and upgrades needed. No need for extra items that do not help the classrooms. We need to get what we have fixed before we add anything else. So you build stadiums and other things and our older buildings are falling apart.

      AECOM is set to make lots of money and they did a poor job of the last bond. Just ask teachers and staff affected by it and with Dansby in charge he didn’t care about safety nor conditions. Call and vote for no to a bond that builds luxury items.
      Remember taxpayers get to pay it all. I am sure there is a kickback somewhere for Dansby. Could be a job after he leaves the DIstrict.

  5. The last Bond issue – supervised by Dansby – promoted by AECOM – HAS GOT to be AUDITED. Where or where did the $$$$ go?

  6. What is their agenda ? Hidden perhaps. PHS’ portable buildings have been there since I attended Paschal. Graduated in ’64. They were called temporary building when they were installed. I remember all the construction going on at the time and now chuckle as I drive by.

  7. Do we really need to spend $73 million for 1050 students. Fine arts and the Stem programs are important but we already have those programs in the schools.One of those schools was supposed to be downtown. Questions, who on the board or friend of a board member has a building or land downtown they want to unload? Re Ann, w/o the fat Dr. to tell her what to do she appears to be lost.

  8. May be something…may be nothing, but if any of you have read the Tarrant Regional Water District saga, it is eerily close to what has transpired within FWISD. When I read the story tonight that Jeff Prince wrote…a name he mentioned stuck out like a sore thumb; it is Marty Leonard, partner to Judy Needham. Marty is on the board of TRWD and they are also known, like FWISD, for being non-transparent and extending terms by a year without a vote. According to the story, a couple of people are filing suit against TRWD for prolonging terms illegally. Someone needs to sue FWISD for doing the same thing! Coincidence that Needham and her partner BOTH gained an extra year on their respective boards??? Read the story here and links to previous stories on TRWD by Jeff Prince :
    https://www.fwweekly.com/2013/08/22/residents-sue-tarrant-regional-water-district/#comment-10981

LEAVE A REPLY