Fort Worth ISD, the second largest district in North Texas, welcomed over 70,000 students back into 140 schools on Monday.
Superintendent Kent Scribner paid a special visit to one of his district's most unique campuses, FWISD Early Collegiate High School at Tarrant County College South Campus.
The students at were treated to an all-star welcome from Scribner, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, and Fort Worth Chief of Police Neil Noakes on the first day of school.
This particular high school helps prepare students for college or the workforce by helping them earn dual credits for both high school and college at the same time.
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'Our early college high schools -- we have 15 -- are among the top schools in the state of Texas," Scribner said. "We understand that our mission is not only to prepare students for college, but also for career and community leadership. Many of these students go on to four year institutions. Others enter the workforce. We're coordinating with our business partners. And some of these students are earning a family sustaining wage right out of high school. It's very, very exciting for them and their family."
The students will have an associate's degree by graduation, including Emma Amos, who wants to become a teacher one day soon.
"It feels very exciting and scary at the same because it’s my last year – I’m gonna miss everybody. But it is exciting because I get to move on and see what the real world is like," the upcoming senior said.
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These moments with students will also be some of the last for Scribner, as he prepares to step down at the end of this month. Click the video below to watch his live interview with NBC 5 Today.
"This is my last first day of school. I will be finishing my seventh year as superintendent, 20 years in total as a superintendent. My wife and I have decided that 20 is plenty," he said. "My job moving forward will be to prepare and help the new leader take Fort Worth ISD from good to great."
Scribner said addressing learning loss from the pandemic and improving district grades will be something he hopes the next leader can continue to build on.
"The pandemic really shook all of us here in public education as well as society in general. Our students did experience the loss of opportunity to learn. We are focused on making that time up with Saturday school, with an extended school day, with focus on the basics like reading and writing and math," he said. "We've seen a great increase in our academic achievement -- we're up three letter grades since that time."
When it comes to safety, Scribner added that they've spent all summer long conducting exterior door sweeps on campuses to make sure there's no easy access to schools. The district has also made sure that cameras are operational.
The school district has also been focused on hiring more teachers and bus drivers.
The operations chief said the district revamped its entire bus route system to fix the delays and other issues they had last year. No major bus delays are expected this week.
And just an extra reminder for parents -- the school days have been extended by 15 minutes. The measure to extend the school day was approved last year to help students catch up from learning loss during the pandemic.
Pre-K and elementary students are staying later into the afternoon while middle school and high school students are starting earlier in the day.
