“Just saying read to your kids at home, that’s not the answer,” Dorsey-Hollins said. “We have to dig a little bit deeper than just reading. We have to get some intervention in place. We have to do what works.”

At Parent Shield Fort Worth, we believe in equipping parents with the tools to advocate for their children and the community at large.

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins of Parent Shield Fort Worth and Brent Beasley of the Fort Worth Education Partnership.

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, director of the advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth, said she wants to see the board select a new superintendent who has a track record of making change and listening to parent voices.

“To see them growing at that rate when you could have been putting that same intentionality behind your African-American students is kind of a slap in the face to Black parents,” Dorsey-Hollins said.

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, founder and executive director of Parent Shield, an organization that empowers parents to advocate for quality education

Three words came to mind when Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, executive director of Parent Shield, learned Fort Worth ISD’s math may be incorrect: “I knew it.”

Dorsey-Hollins highlighted the silence she heard from the school board after Mayor Mattie Parker’s letter and speech voicing the disappointmentshe and more than 40 city leaders share about the state of education in Fort Worth ISD.

Parent Shield Fort Worth held a press conference outside of Fort Worth ISD’s administration building before Tuesday’s meeting, slamming the superintendent and the school board for the district’s student achievement outcomes.

Members of Parent Shield Fort Worth, an education advocacy group, held a press conference outside the district’s administration building before the meeting to outline the group’s own list of demands, including significant academic improvement, specifically for Black students who’ve seen declining test scores

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, executive director of Parent Shield, noted that Mayor Parker’s comments came after many community members and organizations went to the City Council to garner support to make changes in the school district. When asked about Ramsey’s performance, Dorsey-Hollins said he was not satisfied.

Watch Parent Shield Fort Worth Founder, Trenace Dorsey-Hollins deliver power message to FWISD board members at Tuesdays special board meeting.

Watch Trenace Dorsey-Hollins' press conference at FWISD's special board meeting here!

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins is a mother of two daughters who were in the district. Now, her ninth grader is elsewhere.

Watch Trenace Dorsey-Hollins' press conference here!

"One of my daughters I had to move out of the district just because they weren’t meeting the needs of her," she said. "We’re just ready for the district to really put some focus on our kids."

"I definitely don't want parents to completely just trust these results and take them at hand," said Dorsey-Hollins. "We want them to ask the tough questions. How is my child specifically doing? Are they on grade level? Because approaching and meeting grade level are two different things."

In 2019, Carpenter's organization collaborated with other Black educators and activists to form FCCS to advocate for Black children and parental choice, including: Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, Executive Director of Parent Shield Fort Worth.

Dorsey-Hollins, a mother of two, has been advocating for change in Fort Worth ISD for the past two years. She says even worse, many parents aren't even aware of how poorly their children are being educated.

Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, director of the education advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth and one of the co-signers of Mayor Parker’s letter, said she hoped the letter and Parker’s visit would help board members and district leaders recognize that students are in crisis.