Wichita Falls ISD presents Hershey Middle School turnaround plan; parents urge changes to attendance lines and behavior supports

WICHITA FALLS — District staff presented a turnaround plan for Hershey Middle School and described how the district will implement a new math curriculum, reassign staff time and monitor student progress. No formal action was taken at the meeting.

The plan, described by district staff as required under the state’s targeted improvement process, centers on adopting Move On It Math for grades 6–8, providing professional development for teachers, creating observation-and-feedback cycles, and increasing regular unit and benchmark assessments. The presenter said the district applied for a grant to support the work but did not receive it and will instead use RMAT funds and Title II federal funds to pay for training and implementation.

District staff emphasized staffing changes and monitoring. A district administrator said a curriculum specialist will be dedicated to the Hershey implementation, reducing that specialist’s availability for other projects, and that additional professional learning community (PLC) time and intervention periods will be provided for Hershey math and reading teachers. “We will have observation feedback cycles to allow our teachers to get some feedback on how that process is going,” the administrator said.

The presentation noted the turnaround plan builds on the district’s targeted improvement plan and TEA site-visit feedback from February. The presenter said the scheduled fall implementation is intended to provide consistent curriculum and instruction across the district, and that the district has verified the needed dollar amounts are available to support training and rollout.

Public commenters raised concerns that the plan alone will not overcome structural enrollment differences caused by existing attendance zone lines. Joyce McCurdy, a resident, said Hershey is expecting incoming students from Southern Hills who are already “years behind in their reading,” and asked the board when the district will “fix those lines” so schools have a fairer mix of students. “If we keep getting kids… who are in a family school, how are we going to close those gaps?” McCurdy asked.

Diane Carey, who identified herself as a retired Kirby teacher, said classroom behavior is a barrier to instruction and urged the district to provide training on de-escalation and behavior supports. “When you have kids that are setting each other off in class, you can’t teach,” Carey said, adding she hopes the new programs produce measurable gains but emphasized the need for behavior support alongside curricular changes.

District representatives acknowledged public comments during the meeting but did not take formal action or direct an immediate review of attendance boundaries at that time. The presenter said stakeholder feedback collected through the district website, campus meetings and TEA site visits informed the plan; the district also provided a screenshot of the TEA portal entry for the turnaround plan in the meeting packet.

No motions or votes were held during the session; the meeting concluded after public comment. The district’s next steps described in the presentation include fall implementation of the curriculum, ongoing monitoring of student assessments and teacher observation-feedback cycles. The presenter said the plan is intended to be part of a multi-year effort tied to the district’s broader school improvement work.

Public comment and the presentation both emphasized teachers’ work on implementation. The presenter credited teachers’ participation in piloting the curriculum this year and said implementation depends on teacher buy-in and ongoing coaching. The district noted the plan is aligned with the state’s identification process for comprehensive schools and therefore repeats elements of the earlier targeted improvement plan because TEA requires that alignment.

The meeting opened at 5:30 p.m. with the presenter’s overview and was adjourned at about 5:45 p.m.; no formal board action was recorded.