Road Rage and FWCD’s Strategic Plan 2030

To get to the elementary charter school every morning where she teaches third grade, my wife drives eastbound on I-20 from Bryant Irvin. The August 13 road rage tragedy on that stretch of highway shook many, including Debra and me. I think it was the 1980s when I first heard a story of a gun being fired from one car to another because someone was mad at a random other driver. It was Los Angeles. I was horrified by how ugly LA freeways must be.

Fort Worth in 2026 has its own ugliness. And yet, Fort Worth also has its own wonders. We have stories of anger and hatred. We have news clips of people yelling over each other on topics from the public school system to museum exhibits. And yet, we also have stories of wonderful people looking for the common good, lifting that goodness up, and inspiring all of us. 

An overall goal of FWCD’s 2030 Strategic Plan (SP2030) is to enhance the good in our school. Some of that improvement has to do with our curriculum, our teaching, our schedule, our physical plant. Some of that improvement has to do with the simple well-being of our community members. 

Collected as Four Pillars and symbolized by a compass to remind us that we were creating not a map but rather a general set of guidelines and aspirations, SP2030 was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2024 and launched in 2025. The Senior Leadership Team has divided about 20 smaller initiatives we follow each year of this strategic plan. Last year, I focused my communication on Pillar IV: Fostering Student, Faculty, and Staff Health and Well-Being. We have surveys in place to give us some metrics to measure that well-being. We have staffing to reflect the emphasis: Dr. Amy Witten, Assistant Head of School for Student Service and Academics, has the “student services” title particularly to focus her attention on our counseling and academic support staffing and programs. Dr. Witten will continue to lead our Pillar IV initiatives as I shift my communication focus to Pillar III for the 2026-27 school year.

Pillar III: Cultivating a Thriving Culture and Engaged Community calls for us to maximize our sense of community. Every single student, faculty and staff member, as well as parents and guardians, should be invited to feel the community’s embrace. Dr. Nicole Masole-Rose’s job at the School is directly tied to Pillar III. In her sixth year as our Director of Community Engagement and Inclusion (CEI), Dr. Masole-Rose is a resource to all of our parents, guardians, students, faculty and staff. She enjoys conversations, both those that she initiates and those that community members start, about how individuals and families are experiencing our community. 

While she heads into maternity leave this fall, we are thrilled that Nicole will have a lieutenant in her CEI work: Kaelyn Mack joined our community last year. Having been a full-time elementary school teacher, Kaelyn chose to take our Third and Fourth Grade Assistant role to free up some time while she pursues her Master of Social Work (MSW). We are so fortunate that she can keep going on the master’s degree, remain in our grade 3-4 support role, and become the Assistant Coordinator of our Community Engagement and Inclusion efforts. Together, Nicole and Kaelyn are primed to put significant attention on our efforts to meet the belonging aspiration of Pillar III. 

We will continue to learn and grow alongside our students and families, always keeping that aspiration at the heart of our work. We are all responsible for creating and sustaining the all-important sense of belonging found in our Inclusivity Statement and highlighted in our Pillar III.