Wichita Falls ISD will turn operation of Hirschi Middle School over to a charter school company in hopes of salvaging the school’s failing performance.
School trustees voted unanimously Monday to partner with Third Future Schools, a Colorado-based company, to provide a program for Hirschi students.
The vote came in a formal school board meeting following a five-minute public hearing that drew no public comment. Although discussion on Monday was brief, trustee Katherine McGregor said the planning was “long in the making.”
Hirschi has been identified as low performing academically for several years, earned a D in 2023 and anticipates an F for 2024, Deborah Dipprey, the district’s executive director of school administration, said in a presentation at the hearing.
Wichita Falls ISD trustees voted Monday to turn operation of Hirschi Middle School over to a charter school company.
According to the Texas Education Agency, continued failing school performance can trigger sanctions that could include shutting down schools or taking over school districts.
Hirschi closed as a high school in May 2024 and became a middle school to replace Kirby Middle School, which is now vacant.
Dipprey’s presentation showed Third Future Schools representatives said the company raise campuses from F grades to B grades at similar schools in Midland, Odessa and Austin.
Her presentation said the company specializes “in rapidly improving campuses by taking over day-to-day operations of the campus to improve performance within one to three years.”
The company said it will “reconstitute the campus with experienced, effective teachers and administrators, add 10 school days and summer classes for struggling students, provide 90 minutes of math and reading instruction daily and assess student progress daily.”
WFISD Superintendent Donny Lee said the company will make all personnel decisions and have complete control over the staff. He said the contracted staff at Hirschi that Third Future Schools doesn’t hire will be placed on other WFISD campuses.
Third Future Schools posted ads for Hirschi personnel on its website Tuesday, offering an average salary over $70,000 annually with 24 holidays or recess days, nine personal days off and two months of summer vacation. It also offered $5,000 relocation bonuses.
Lee said the cost of the partnership with the company is funded by a state grant and through the American with Disabilities Act, and it imposes no out-of-pocket expense on the district.
“The partnership with Third Future does not guarantee WFISD is no longer in danger of TEA sanctions,” Lee told the Times Record News. “We’ve reached out to Mike Morath (Texas education commissioner) and are awaiting his decision regarding if our partnership constitutes as a campus closure. If it does, we’re no longer in danger of TEA sanctions.”
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5 minute presentation dipprey
Later in an official meeting, school board members adopted the plan without further discussion.
On June 4, Hirschi announced on its Facebook page that Summer Bynum had been named the new “Turnaround Principal” at Hirschi Middle School for the 2025–2026 school year. She replaced Del Hardway, who resigned. Bynum was formerly Principal at McNiel Middle School.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Third Future taking over Hirschi Middle School operation for WFISD