Wichita Falls ISD Superintendent Donny Lee said he hopes to hear more on a possible decision about the district’s fate when the state education chief — who is the decision maker — visits Region 9 Education Service Center on Wednesday in Wichita Falls.
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath is required by law to choose between closing Hirschi Middle School or appointing a board of managers to take over the district in the wake of poor academic performance.
Lee provided information about Morath’s upcoming visit during his superintendent’s report Monday at the School Board meeting.
While the TEA is still weighing a potential takeover of WFISD, the district is contending it has made adequate mitigation efforts, spearheaded by handing the keys to Hirschi over to Third Future to turn the school around.
“He’ll be speaking to the whole group of superintendents, and our hope is that since he’s in Wichita Falls, he’ll be able to give us a little bit of information while he’s here,” Lee said. “Whether, a couple more weeks, or … just some type of information to let us know what his thoughts are and maybe a little tighter timeframe on a decision.”
The superintendent also expressed optimism for the district’s chances of avoiding a takeover as the timeline for a decision stretches out.
“The longer this thing stretches out — it’s been going on since I arrived and was hired three and a half years ago — and the longer it gets pushed into the school year as the school year’s wrapping up in the spring, I feel cautiously optimistic about it,” Lee said.
“There has to be time to …, if there was a takeover, to remove the board of trustees, to call for applications for a board of managers, to review the applications and then install the board of managers,” Lee said.
“So that takes a lot of time. So the longer this thing goes … — I don’t want to preemptively say anything — it just seems like no news is good news,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: TEA chief to visit Wichita Falls as WFISD takeover decision looms
Reporting by Cecil Witherspoon, Special to the Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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