A takeover looms over Lake Worth ISD. “The mood, it’s anxiety, disappointment, and just everyone’s kind of wondering what’s next, what’s next for the district,” Lake Worth Superintendent Dr. Mark Ramirez said. The district currently has five of its six campuses rated academically u nacceptable for consecutive years. “It’s been challenging, but I’m going to say it’s also been rewarding because…we’ve had 65 days of instruction. And the positive is that we’ve seen the growth in our students, we’ve seen the growth in teachers, we are seeing the growth in just all of leadership in general,” Ramirez said. Although under pressure to improve the school district’s accountability standards, Ramirez said 100 is not the magic number but rather the “3,177 students that depend on us every day.” Ramirez and his team created a data wall for each school in order to visualize the progress made. “Every student is listed on the data wall, and it has them by level, tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3,” Ramirez said. A clip or clothespin was created for each student. The clip helps track their performance with the goal to move into the green or blue zone, which represents “Meeting” or “Mastering” their grade level. While a large percentage is in the red zone, representing the “Did Not Meet” grade level, went from 41% to 28%, Ramirez said. “We have 28% of our students that are at the lowest level. So there’s 28% our students here in Lakewood out of the 3,177 that I would say are in need of interventions,” Ramirez said. “We started a mentoring program for those students just to get additional help and support from adults,” he said. “And we’ve also partnered with a program that’s gonna come in for tier two intervention that is, that personalizes and differentiates instruction for that specific student.” The strategy, he said, is part of a three-step plan he launched shortly after he was hired. “I started June, June 1st,” Ramirez said. We laid the foundation for our instructional framework…Number one is high quality instruction in all of our classrooms. Number two is professional learning communities that are taking place on a frequent basis. And number three, which is one of the most important things is a common curriculum.” He also attributes the improvement to the frequent visits across classrooms. “We have actually logged over 2,000 instructional walks this year,” Ramirez said. “We just go into classroom and we observe.” Still, the TEA commissioner Mike Morath said failing has become chronic for Lake Worth ISD adding that it is time to intervene by replacing the school board and possibly Ramirez himself. “We are disappointed in the decision, but accept the decision,” Ramirez said. “We’re going to help with the transition. At the end of the day, the focus is on students and that’s what we need to focus on.” According to Ramirez, he is encouraged and determined to keep focused on the young minds of Lake Worth. “It’s priceless. Our kids are amazing… They have an amazing future,” Ramirez said. “Our mission and vision talks about meaningful connections. So, for us, we cannot accelerate the work unless you connect with the people.” It could be weeks before the TEA names a board of managers and a conservator however, it is unclear whether Morath will also replace Ramirez. ...read more read less