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W.P. McLean Middle School, 3816 Stadium Drive, Fort Worth, is pictured on June 26, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/McLean_June26_CamiloDiaz-1-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/McLean_June26_CamiloDiaz-1-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Following a consequential school board decision in late May, the closure of Fort Worth ISD’s Daggett Middle School is no longer on the table. Now, the district is instead weighing two options for families in the Paschal High School pyramid: consolidate the McLean 6th Grade and McLean Middle School campuses while renovating the middle school or upgrade the existing campuses as approved by voters in the district’s $1.2 billion 2021 bond election.During an Aug. 19 community meeting held at McLean Middle School, district officials presented these options, emphasizing a commitment to enhance educational quality while addressing the logistical challenges of merging schools if the consolidation is approved.The Fort Worth ISD school board will vote on the potential consolidation and closure of McLean 6th Grade during its Aug. 27 meeting, trustee Anne Darr told the Report after the meeting.“This isn’t just about the people in this auditorium,” Darr said. “This is about all of the families and the children and the community members. This is for 40, 50 years down the line. We’re not going to have another opportunity that we have now to remodel.”Darr, who attended the meeting alongside administrators like Superintendent Angélica Ramsey and board President Camille Rodriguez, stressed the importance of listening to community concerns.In April, Fort Worth ISD hosted a series of public meetings where officials presented their plans to close Daggett Middle School, McLean 6th Grade Center, Kirkpatrick Middle School and Morningside Middle School. The proposals to combine campuses, including the two McLean schools, stemmed from a broader strategy to streamline operations and better utilize resources amid a backdrop of declining enrollment and inflationary pressures, district officials said.“We have to not just look at what’s best for kids in the 2028-29 school year, but also what is best for the long term of Fort Worth ISD,” Darr said. “(That) doesn’t mean I’ve made up my mind — I’m listening to the community.”Trustee Anne Darr, center, speaks during a school board meeting on Aug. 30, 2022. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)On May 28, Fort Worth ISD board members pulled the proposal that would have consolidated seven district middle schools into three. In that case, the district and trustees took communities’ concerns about the negative impact of school closures on transportation and school culture to heart, trustee Wallace Bridges previously told the Report.Once each proposal was pulled, the district and board would “proceed with the renovations to each middle school,” Rodriguez said during that May 28 meeting.Almost three months later, on Aug. 12, Fort Worth ISD posted an announcement to its website and Facebook page inviting parents to McLean Middle School to discuss plans and ideas for the future of the campus.“The school board will consider instead combining McLean Middle with McLean 6th and renovating the McLean Middle campus,” the post read. Because McLean 6th Grade is down the street from McLean Middle — separated only by St. Andrew Catholic Church — transportation would not be an issue if the two schools were combined. That’s a stark contrast from Daggett Middle School, which is 3 miles away from McLean Middle School.The consolidation and closure would also address declining enrollment, officials have said, streamlining operations away from schools with low enrollment.With a capacity of 550, McLean 6th Grade Center had 395 students enrolled during the 2023-24 school year after enrollment peaked at 561 students during the 2017-18 school year. McLean Middle, which has a capacity for 1,000, peaked during the 2018-19 school year with 1,077 students. It enrolled 948 students last school year.If approved, renovations to McLean Middle School would slightly increase the school’s capacity to accommodate the influx of students from the sixth grade campus. Renovations wouldn’t be complete until the 2028-29 school year, Darr said. Still, community members have feared closures could lead to even steeper enrollment decreases across the district over the next several years.McLean 6th Grade PTA President Maida Glasgow didn’t have many concerns, she told the Report after the Aug. 19 public meeting. Fort Worth ISD did not allow the Report to enter the meeting, claiming it was intended solely for community members with students currently in the McLean Middle School pathway.Glasgow said she thought parents feel heard and, if approved, construction shouldn’t be much of a hindrance to parents and students. “I think the consensus is a lot more positive,” she said, referring to disapproval of the initial plan to combine Daggett Middle School with McLean campuses. “A lot of people want new facilities. They want new extracurricular activities to be designed — state-of-the-art facilities for these extracurriculars.”McLean Middle School has an award-winning band that’s currently forced to perform and practice at Paschal High School, Glasgow said. Building a brand-new band hall and theater would expand resources for all of the school’s eventual students, she said. All stakeholders, including parents and students, will have an opportunity to provide input into the design of new facilities if the closure and consolidation is approved, according to the district’s website.If the consolidation isn’t approved and trustees instead decide to move forward with renovations to McLean Middle and McLean 6th, as voted during the 2021 bond process, students and parents wouldn’t notice much of a difference in the campuses, officials said.Fort Worth ISD school board President Camille Rodriguez speaks during a first-day-of-school event on Aug. 13, 2024, at M.H. Moore Elementary School. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)During that 2021 bond process, in which 18 middle schools were identified for renovations or additions, the following project priorities were listed, according to the district’s website:Security and life safety

Building envelope (roof, windows, doors, etc.)

Learning environments

Systems and components

CapacityConstruction budgets for each campus will focus on those priorities as listed, addressing as many as the budget will allow, according to the district website. In no instance is there enough funding available to address every pain point that exists, it reads.“It’s just going to be security upgrades and the vestibule, roofing and air conditioning,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not like you would see a newly built school.” Initial 2021 bond plans budgeted $27.2 million to renovate McLean 6th Grade Center and $46.5 million to renovate McLean Middle School. Yet, inflationary pressures will force the district to abandon many of the lower-priority projects on individual campuses, Darr said. Take inflation — and the 27 projects promised to voters after approving the 2021 bond — and you can’t expect the same product residents received after the district’s 2017 bond was approved, she said.Fort Worth ISD’s $750 million 2017 bond funded the renovations of 15 different district high schools, with many receiving significant additions or facelifts. If consolidation is approved, families would see changes similar to those, trustees said. The two campuses would combine construction budgets to amount to $52.6 million.While complaints are few given those details, Glasgow said, it’s still up in the air whether the renovated building would address issues like school culture. Middle school is a tricky time for students, she said, and a smooth melding of sixth graders with seventh and eighth graders will be crucial to those students’ development on campus.For now, she and other parents feel their input is being heard. “That’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re doing these listening sessions,” Glasgow said. “Whenever this school is built, make it designed where there is a sixth-grade hall, there is a sixth-grade drop-off. If we design that from the beginning and listen to people who want that sweet little school — hey, let’s design it.” While the district will continue to listen, Darr said, students will still be the focus of trustees’ Aug. 27 decision. Either way, Darr is sure they will be taken care of. Whether they continue to be two separate campuses, or combine into one, educators on both campuses are “top notch” and are doing what is best for kids every day, she said.“They are going to continue to do that long after I am serving on this board — long after I’m even alive in this community,” Darr said. “Nobody can problem solve better than a group of educators.”Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @MatthewSgroi1. 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.