Fort Worth School Could Soon Become All Boys
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A Fort Worth school with a rich history is in the middle of a fight over its future. Officials with the Fort Worth Independent School District have proposed a plan that would turn Dunbar Sixth Grade Middle School into an all boys academy. But residents are upset because, they said, they were not included in the plan.
A meeting was held on Thursday night to help clear up some confusion about the proposed plan. While no final decisions have been made, school district officials would indeed like to turn the campus into a school for boys.
Community leaders and upset parents packed the school's auditorium to discuss this issue.
One parent asked, "How can you explain, or even guarantee, that the curriculum will equip the leaders that you are trying to build?"
Another parent wondered, "My concern is, why don't we start this program earlier in the children's school years?"
The school rests in the historic Carver Heights neighborhood, known to many as Stop Six. It had previously been designated as a school exclusively for neighborhood sixth-graders. "I think that this community feels that this campus especially is performing exceptionally," said one mother. "And I think that is their biggest complaint about taking it away and bringing in the boys campus."
Parent Natosha Jones fears that the girls are being left behind. "I went here and my oldest daughter went here," Jones said. "Why turn Dunbar into an all boys school? You can go over on the south side and use another facility as an all boys school, or you can use somewhere else."
But perhaps what bothers parents and community leaders most of all is that they were not informed about the decision or asked for input. The district only held the Thursday night meeting after hearing complaints from concerned parents. "We looked at something we were giving to the community, not something we were taking away," said superintendent Dr. Melody Johnson.
There are some parents who support the decision. Nikki Roblow agrees with the school district's plan. "I would want him to have the opportunity to attend an all male academy," Roblow said. "I went to an all girls college and I saw the benefits of being able to go to school and work on teams with people of single sex, and not have the conflicts of men in the classroom."
The school district now plans to absorb everything that was discussed on Thursday night before making a final decision on the issue. That decision could come as early as next month.
