Fort Worth ISD

Fort Worth ISD School Board Open to Discuss Changing Officers' Role on Campuses

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The Fort Worth ISD School Board passed a resolution Tuesday pledging zero tolerance of racism and any effort to hamper conversations on race, including discussions about police on campus.

School board member Quinton Phillips grew up in the Stop Six neighborhood of Fort Worth and attended Dunbar High School.

"Growing up as a black man within this city, have had negative run ins with police, but I can also say while I was in school at Dunbar we had Ofc. Terry at our school," he said. "She was a phenomenal woman and she was a mentor, part of the fabric of Dunbar, it's really kind of both of those things."

Phillips said it's not so simple to judge what should happen with police officers on school campuses.

Fort Worth ISD's stance differs from Dallas ISD's.

"I do not support it, I think our police department bring a valuable service for us, we need to keep our campus secure," Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said.

"We have an initiative that now would require any officer working in our school, any school resource officer to participate in our racial equity training," Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner said.

Phillips said he understood calls for school leaders to look at and evaluate their relationship with police and said right now, people have to be willing to take the time to just talk about all race concerns.

"We want Fort Worth ISD to know how we feel about every one of their lives and how much we value them and the privilege to be able to educate them," Phillips said.

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