In August 2023, the My Brother’s Keeper FWISD program came under fire due to claims that the $255,000 budget was unwarranted, stemming from the belief of a few Fort Worth community members that the program was not accomplishing its task of helping kids academically. Recently, similar claims have been made by FaceBook page FWISD Watchdog, a page that keeps track of different district policies, endeavors and resource allocations and brings them to light to their FaceBook community.
After the Paschal and Carter Riverside MBK chapters had the opportunity to visit the American Airlines headquarters building, the page made a post questioning whether or not the quarterly reports that had been ordered by the district back in August were actually being conducted. They also criticized a student who misspelled a word when they were asked to write down a word that exemplified a struggle or fear that they had. While focusing on the single misspelling of the word, the page’s author missed the entire purpose of the exercise, ignoring words such as “poverty”, “pain” and “abandonment”.
In light of the recent claims, MBK director Rickie Clark was asked to clarify matters about quarterly reports and budget. “Quarterly reports about grades, attendance and behavior are taken every 3 months; by the end of the 23-24 school year, MBK will have maintained 93% daily attendance, a 1.6% increase from last year, 12% of MBK students received OSS, OCI or DAEP as disciplinary consequences, a 2.8% reduction from last year, 36% of MBK students will have been enrolled in AP, On Ramps or Dual Credit courses, putting them on par with the general district population, a 10.5% increase from last year.”
Despite the positive data, FWISD is not completely convinced about MBK’s effectiveness according to some posts on the FWISD Watchdog.
Clark continued, “The district is now considering dropping 40% of the contract for the following school year. The contract has $100,000 less than last year and it will be voted upon in July. I met with the superintendent in an attempt to find funding from sponsors or fundraising events. She was well meaning and did not wish to cut funding from the service, we talked about potentially bringing down the 40% and the negative impacts a smaller budget would have; not allowing MBK to operate in as many schools as we are now.”
A budget cut of this magnitude would only negatively impact the students who have greatly benefited from this program, Clark said.
“I thrive from giving opportunities to children of all colors, it does me well, my motto is that they are 10% of the population and 100% of the future. We don’t always want to talk about trauma, but how we build off the trauma. I’m still talking to students who graduated 4 or 5 years ago who call me for advice, Clark said.
As of 2024 there are MBK chapters in 15 FWISD schools. The contract, according to Clark, is meant to support three My Sister’s Keeper chapters but the organization is at six different schools at no extra cost. “We have received great support from Paschal alumni Rix Quinn and Bill West,” Clark continued. “ We’ve had the chance to go visit TCU and sit in on one of their classrooms, we’ve been invited to American Airlines, painted murals and been in the news twice, we had a chance to visit the Doc bookshop with TCU. We’ve also had the pleasure of working with different organizations such as Community Frontline, Tarrant County for Change, and the One Second Collaborative, who were all kind enough to invite MBK to meetings.”
MBK is an outlet that provides a space where students are able to be themselves and express themselves, learning to navigate hard situations and grow emotionally in a way that conventional schooling doesn’t always account for, Clark said.
Despite all the setbacks, cries to end the program from unsatisfied community members and potential budget cuts, students who partake in this program benefit not just academically, but receive tremendous help after High School, something that unfortunately a lot of students do not receive, Clark said.
As one FaceBook commenter posted under the FWISD Watchdog post; “One thing I do know about the program is that I have seen students come out of their shell and take pride in themselves.”
