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TCC worker Francisco Leos paints the hallway of New Heights High School on June 17, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
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Papers strewn across half of the conference table. Paint swatches neatly fanned out between MacBooks and metal refillable water bottles. Notebooks filled with cursive letters in blue ink and pink and yellow highlights. The tabletop is a still life that tells a lively story.

“You’re seeing where the sausage gets made,” Traci Berry said, as she rose from a black conference room chair.

The organized chaos had a reason. Berry and her top lieutenants were in the middle of a budget discussion. They wanted to ensure every dollar and cent they have is spent right as they chart new waters for education in Texas.

Berry’s team is assembling a high school. Not a traditional one, though. This campus in Fort Worth focuses on adults 18 to 50 who dropped out of high school. They will earn a full-fledged high school diploma — and even take state standardized tests. They will be put on a path toward a career because every student also enrolls in Tarrant County College. 

All for free. 

So what’s it called? New Heights High School.

New Heights High School will be in Building A at the Tarrant County College Opportunity Center, 5901 Fitzhugh Ave., in east Fort Worth. The adult high school is set to open Sept. 3, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

Berry, CEO and superintendent of New Heights, stood in the front foyer of the school as workers banged their hammers, drills whirred and brushes bristled with bright white paint. 

“We’re trying to design something very intentional, and we’re sprucing things up for our students versus just coming into a space and being like that’s good enough,” Berry said.

New Heights High School calls Tarrant County College Opportunity Center’s Building A, just around the corner from Dunbar High School in east Fort Worth, home.

New Heights is a charter school. In fact, it is the first adult charter school in Texas under a 2023 law, according to officials. A pilot program, which Berry led, was in operation for about a decade in Austin as a way to fine-tune the model.

Unlike traditional charter schools like Rocketship Public Schools or IDEA Public Schools, New Heights needed to earn the approval only of the state’s education commissioner. Traditional K-12 charter schools first receive the commissioner’s OK and then go in front of the State Board of Education, where members may exercise their veto power.

As a charter, New Heights has flexibility. The school collects state funding. Private donations are accepted, too. Expansion? Easy, Berry says, now that the school has its charter from the state, especially as city leaders are eager to replicate the model in the Northside and Alliance. 

Traci Berry, CEO and superintendent of New Heights High School, explains the journey of bringing an adult high school to Fort Worth on June 17, 2024. “We want to make this a place where you are celebrated,” she said. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

New Heights leaders understand charter schools can be controversial. Their school, though, is different. Students are working adults, with families and fully formed lives. 

Administrators embrace the entirety of students. They want them to use their life lessons in the project- and collaborative-based curriculum.Their school has the backing of Fort Worth ISD, Tarrant County College, United Way of Tarrant County, city of Fort Worth, the Mayor’s Committee on Education and Workforce, Paul Quinn College, Child Care Associates, employers and philanthropic support. 

The partnerships are required under Senate Bill 2032, the law that paved the way for New Heights.

New Heights still has to meet the state’s requirements for diplomas, dual credit classes and more. 

“But how do we do it? We have that flexibility, which is super important for our students,” Berry said.

“The heartbeat of the school” is under construction June 17, 2024, at New Heights High School in Fort Worth. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

Berry turned the cool-to-the-touch stainless steel door knob. Xavier Sanchez, New Height’s chief academic officer and campus director, and Leticia Serna, the school’s chief operating officer, huddle near the entrance. 

The room is bright white — almost blindingly so. The space isn’t done, Berry reminded. 

“I’m going to call this the heartbeat of the school,” Berry said.

“Like a student union,” Sanchez quickly added as his superintendent nodded.

Berry pointed her index finger. Two empty door frames. Behind them will be advising offices for students. 

Advisers will work to ensure students have the right classes and schedule for school, open 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, except Fridays. They’ll also guide students to careers they find interesting. Or access mental health counseling in the school. Or child care providers so their children are looked after as they go to classes.

COO Leticia Serna explains her goals with New Heights High School on June 17, 2024. Serna believes parents revisiting their high school education will benefit their kids’ outlook on education. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

“When you talk about breaking down barriers, that’s the biggest piece right there is having a bunch of providers available to get rid of that barrier right off the bat,” Serna said.

The school will even help students during times of need. Rent during an emergency? Electric or other utilities? Food? Yes, yes and yes, thanks to philanthropic donations.

“This is important: This isn’t charity. This isn’t a handout. This is a hand up,” Berry said. “This is about creating economic mobility. It’s financial independence. It’s filling employer needs. It’s coming together to solve these problems.”

Berry and her team looked at the unfinished room and walked out one by one. 

Click. The lights turned off. 

“This room is going to meet a lot of needs,” Berry said, walking toward the front of the school.

Xavier Sanchez, chief academic officer and campus director, expresses his excitement of New Heights High School’s future on June 17, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

Back in the conference room, the New Heights team plopped down into their chairs.

Sanchez worked for Fort Worth ISD for a quarter of a century. He has helped many students. 

“But the ones that get you are the ones you weren’t able to capture. That has always driven me. It’s always weighed on me,” Sanchez said.

Serna and Sanchez plan to step up recruitment efforts after Independence Day. They plan to fan out across the city and Tarrant County. Their ideal place to meet prospective students? Back-to-school events.

“This is a chance for us to recapture and give a second chance,” Sanchez said.

Serna swiveled toward Sanchez. 

“It’s giving people an opportunity for something that they thought was just long gone,” she said. “If I’m a 40-year-old, there’s no way I can go to Dunbar and say, ‘I’m 40. I’d like to come back and enroll.’ This gives them that opportunity to do that.”

New Heights is still in the middle of its rejuvenation. Beige walls are outlined with fresh, bright white paint. Graphics that will stretch hallways are being designed. Other paint colors are yet to be decided.

Back to the swatches filled with tones of yellow, teal, blue and even one called joyful orange. A few will greet students when classes start Sept. 3, welcoming the start of what could be their bright new future.

Jacob Sanchez is an enterprise journalist for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.