Facilities Master Planning

Fort Worth ISD is currently undertaking a facilities master planning process. The intent of this process is to create a comprehensive facilities plan that not only identifies actionable items, but sets a vision for the future portfolio of facilities needed to accommodate trends in enrollment/demographics and academic programming and delivery models. Please refer to the district's Facilities Master Planning page for more information.

District-Wide Implications

The facilities master planning process has implications for every school and community in our district. Some schools may be more directly affected by potential closures or rezoning, but the entire district will be impacted by decisions made during this process.

Birth rates and other factors are projected to lead to declining district enrollment, which necessitates that the district take action to right-size its facilities portfolio or decrease spending/student programming across the board.

Resources with more information include:

• The 2024 State of School Facilities Report

• Materials available on the district's Facilities Master Planning Page, which include Board and Task  Force meeting presentations

• Videos from Board meetings at which facilities master planning was discussed:

  • Board Workshop February 11, 2025

  • Board Meeting August 27, 2024

  • Board Meeting July 23, 2024

  • Board Workshop May 14, 2024

The image above shows the current Paschal Pyramid. The current feeder pattern is:

• Six elementary schools are zoned to McLean 6th Grade Center (Mc6) and McLean Middle School (MMS):

  • Alice Contreras Elementary

  • George C. Clarke Elementary (GCC)

  • Lily B. Clayton Elementary (LBC)

  • Overton Park Elementary

  • Tanglewood Elementary

  • Westcliff Elementary

• Two elementary schools are zoned to Daggett Middle School (DMS):

  • De Zavala Elementary

  • Daggett Elementary

• MMS and DMS feed into Paschal High School.

Note that the FWISD Board of Trustees has already approved the closure of Mc6 so that 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in the McLean zone would attend MMS once certain construction changes are made at MMS.

Potential Changes to the Paschal Pyramid

Three "Options" for the Paschal Pyramid were presented by the District at the February 26 Community Meeting. Slides from that meeting are available here. The options are summarized below:

• All three options would close De Zavala Elementary School and merge their students into Daggett Elementary. 

• Option 1 (the GCC Rezoning Option) would rezone GCC so that it feeds into DMS instead of MMS.

• Option 2 (the LBC Rezoning Option) would rezone LBC so that it feeds into DMS instead of MMS.

• Option 3 (the Single Middle School Option) would close DMS so that all elementary schools in the Paschal Pyramid would feed into MMS. MMS would be rebuilt at 1,500 capacity to accommodate all students in the pyramid.

• Whether rezoning affects GCC or LBC, the considerations are the same. 

PTA Position Statement 

Regarding Fort Worth ISD

Facilities Master Planning

Lily B. Clayton Elementary PTA has adopted the following Position Statement Regarding Fort Worth ISD Facilities Master Planning (available as a PDF here):

Budget limitations, declining enrollment, and demographic changes necessitate that the District take action to right-size its facilities portfolio or decrease spending/student programming across the board.

With respect to the options for middle school changes presented by the Facilities Master Planning Task Force for the R.L. Paschal High School Pyramid (the “Paschal Pyramid”), available here, Lily B. Clayton Elementary PTA supports Task Force Option 2 [which was relabeled Option 3 at the February 26 Facilities Community Meeting] (the “Single Middle School Option”), which would close E.M. Daggett Middle School (“DMS”) and McLean 6th Grade Center (“Mc6”) so that all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in the Paschal Pyramid would feed into W. P. McLean Middle School (“MMS”). MMS would be rebuilt at 1,600 capacity [changed to 1,500 capacity at the February 26 Facilities Community Meeting] to accommodate all middle school students in the pyramid. The Single Middle School Option is the only approach that will align with student needs in an equitable manner across the Paschal Pyramid. The reasons we take this position include: 

1. Rezoning George C. Clarke Elementary (“GCC”) (or Lily B. Clayton Elementary (“LBC”) or any other elementary school that is currently zoned to MMS) would move students:

   • From a higher-performing school to a lower-performing school (the unofficial ratings released by Fort Worth ISD (the “District”) in September 2024 indicated that the unofficial ratings (scores) for 2024 for DMS, Mc6, and MMS were F (55), B (83), and C (75), respectively—see Appendix 1 for more information);

   • From a school that more in-zone families choose to attend to a school that fewer in-zone families choose to attend (see Appendix 2); and

   • From a larger school that can support more robust student programming (because it has a student population large enough to fill out different programs) to a smaller school that is currently unable to support robust student programming (such as choir, orchestra, and an on-campus geometry class) (see the educational adequacy discussion in the 2024 State of School Facilities Report). Note that while an increase to DMS’s enrollment may provide increased student enrollment to provide some additional programming that is currently missing from this campus, the District has indicated that it would not be possible to rebuild DMS to house more than 550 students (possibly fewer due to current building standards). Based on enrollment numbers alone, it would not be possible to rezone both GCC and LBC to DMS or to allocate students to evenly split the Paschal Pyramid among DMS and MMS. It is not possible to split the Paschal Pyramid among DMS and MMS evenly and equitably.

2. The Single Middle School Option would serve all students in the Paschal Pyramid equally and would align with steps proposed to be taken across the District. Eight of the 13 high schools in our District pyramids are fed by a single middle school already. In four of the other five pyramids (Arlington Heights, North Side, Paschal, and Polytechnic), one or more of the proposals presented by the Task Force and/or Steering Committee includes a middle school closure that would result in a single middle school for the pyramid. 

3. Despite costing substantially more per student than most other schools in the District, DMS has continued to lack programming offered at other District middle schools due to campus constraints and inefficiencies (see Appendix 3). Rather than continuing to allocate resources to an under-utilized DMS building in disrepair with a landlocked footprint, the Single Middle School Option would optimize resources across the Paschal Pyramid so that robust programming could be offered pyramid-wide. 

4. A right-sized new single middle school would offer efficiencies for teacher staffing that may mitigate some of the issues we have seen recently with being able to fill District roles. 

5. A newly constructed middle school building would be developed with the most current best practices for the learning environment that could better serve the entire pyramid.

Lily B. Clayton Elementary PTA notes that if De Zavala Elementary (“DZE”) closes as is proposed in both options presented by the Facilities Master Planning Task Force and a portion of the current DZE zone is rezoned to feed into LBC, Lily B. Clayton Elementary PTA will welcome the new members of our community. Further: 

1. As noted in the FWISD 2024-25 Elementary School Live/Attend Chart in the 2024 State of School Facilities Report, 36 students who live in the DZE zone already have transferred to LBC and currently attend LBC. We consider the Fairmount/Near Southside/Downtown community to be an integral part of the LBC community already.

2. Adding additional students to the LBC zone would increase LBC’s utilization and optimize resources to better align with student needs. For example, both DZE and LBC offer a two-way dual language program, and incorporating additional DZE students into the LBC dual language program would contribute to its long-term viability and success. 

Call to Action

1. Complete the FWISD Facilities Planning Survey. Voice your support for Option 3 and the Single Middle School Option. 

2. Email FWISD Leaders and let your voice be heard. Email the Board Trustees and Dr. Molinar to advocate for and highlight the PTA position statement. You can use this draft email as a template.

3. Sign the Petition—Add your name and comment to show support. The Petition is available here.

4. Consider making a public comment at a school board meeting. You can use this draft script as a template.

5. Share information with friends and neighbors. This shared folder includes background information, infographics, and other information.

6. Join the conversation—stay informed and engaged by joining the Students Over Structures • LBC PTA Paschal Pyramid Advocacy Facebook group.