Lake Worth ISD has new leadership after Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on April 23 appointed a new superintendent and five-member board of managers who are tasked with overseeing improving student outcomes for the 3,200-student district.
Ena Meyers is the new superintendent of Lake Worth schools. Meyers is a longtime public educator with more than two decades of experience in Texas schools. She most recently served as deputy chief of strategic initiatives at Houston ISD and has worked as a teacher, principal and district leader.
The managers who will assume the governing authority previously held by locally elected trustees are:
- Tom Harris, business and community leader and chair of the Fort Worth Mayor’s Council on Education and Workforce Development
- Amy Morgan, longtime public school educator and former district administrator
- Kenneth (Ken) Nichols, retired U.S. Navy officer and adjunct professor
- Mason Sneed, private equity professional with experience in finance and engineering
- Judy Starnes, retired Lake Worth ISD educator and longtime community member
The new leadership team is expected to begin its work publicly at its first meeting on May 18. Lake Worth ISD’s elected trustees will continue holding office but without governing power.
The appointments follow months of uncertainty in the small district northwest of Fort Worth, where community members, teachers and elected trustees pressed state leaders for clarity on why former Superintendent Mark Ramirez was forced out despite early signs of academic improvement. Meanwhile, as opposed to the hundreds who applied to be a Fort Worth ISD manager, only 14 initially sought to serve on Lake Worth’s.
In a press release, Morath said the newly appointed leadership team brings the experience needed to improve academic outcomes, strengthen district systems and build a foundation for long-term success.
“Lake Worth ISD students deserve a school system that prepares them for success in college, career or the military,” Morath said. “The newly appointed Board of Managers and superintendent bring the experience and commitment necessary to improve academic outcomes, strengthen district systems and build a strong foundation for long-term success in Lake Worth ISD.”
The takeover stems from years of low academic performance, including five consecutive failing ratings at Marilyn Miller Language Academy under Texas’ academic accountability system.
Under state law, when a campus reaches that threshold, the commissioner must either order the school closed or replace the district’s elected board with state-appointed managers. In Lake Worth ISD, Morath determined a board of managers — and a new superintendent — was the appropriate remedy.
When the commissioner announced the takeover in December, he said the district’s students had endured years of weak academic outcomes and that stronger governance was needed to improve performance.
“I do not make this decision lightly,” Morath wrote at the time. “The inability of the district to implement effective changes to improve the performance of students in the district or at the campus necessitates the interventions announced by this letter.”
The state’s intervention followed months of warning signs.
In September, district leaders adopted what they called ambitious goals to raise reading and math performance, improve attendance and lift every campus to at least a B rating by 2028. Ramirez said then that Lake Worth had no choice but to move with urgency as Morath weighed the intervention.
A month later, Morath visited Lake Worth schools and said state action was ultimately required, though he had not yet decided whether that would mean closing Marilyn Miller or installing managers.
By December, he announced the takeover and said Lake Worth needed “a completely new leadership environment.”
Ramirez, who was hired in May and drew strong public support during his short time in the district, was later told he would not be a candidate to remain superintendent. Elected trustees repeatedly questioned that decision, arguing Ramirez brought structure, urgency and optimism to a district that had long struggled.
In January, Morath appointed former superintendent of Manor and Comal schools Andrew Kim as conservator to oversee the district during the transition. Later that month, Lake Worth trustees voted not to appeal the intervention, saying an appeal would be costly, limited in scope and unlikely to change the outcome.
Since then, district leaders have continued operating under temporary leadership.
Ramirez resigned in March, and trustees named Trent Dowd as acting superintendent while awaiting Morath’s appointments.
The managers now take over the core duties of governing the district, including adopting budgets, setting policy, approving contracts and overseeing the superintendent.
State officials said the board will work with the superintendent to meet exit criteria required for returning local elected control, including eliminating failing campuses, improving reading and math outcomes and meeting state governance standards.
Their appointment comes after the relatively small pool that included only four applicants who lived within district boundaries, according to previously released agency data.
Elected board President Tammy Thomas previously said the low number reflected long-standing gaps in civic engagement with Lake Worth schools.
“With the lack of support in the district, and you see not many people at board meetings, I’m not surprised that there were this few,” Thomas told the Fort Worth Report in February.
The appointed managers will serve for at least two years before the commissioner begins considering whether governance authority can return to elected trustees.
Under Texas law, takeovers can continue in two-year increments if a commissioner determines a district has not shown sufficient academic improvement.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.orgor @matthewsgroi1.
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