Where Did the BOM Come From?
How did the TEA find the Board of Managers (BOM)? Great question. There was a call for interest published late 2025 for parties to express a desire to be on the BOM (it was a web form). Anyone, from anywhere, could submit their name. They did not have to live within the FWISD boundary or even in the state of Texas. The TEA has not published a list of who was in this group of roughly 280 candidates who followed the first step (although we have a moderately complete list). We will never actually know if those who are selected actually came from the group of 280.
Subsequently those who applied had to attend a weekend, two-day (full 16 hour) training called Lone Star Governance (LSG). The TEA broke the group of 280 into approximately halves, holding sessions December 6-7, 2025 and January 10-11, 2026. These sessions were largely a brain-washing session used to convince attendees that ‘I’ am the problem. It all was focused on rooting back to the emphasis that all of those in the room were responsible for not doing enough to keep the FWISD on track. The leaders of these sessions had either served as superintendents or been appointed by the TEA to drive other past takeovers. It was all about ‘I’ and not ‘we’.
Key takeaways from the sessions included the fact that the BOM does not make its own decisions. Those appointed are expected to tow the line of the TEA and deviation from this could result in removal from the BOM.
Additionally, the BOM is expected to set a handful of FIVE year goals for the appointed Superintendent. Nothing shorter. Success is not to be decided in milestones or smaller time periods. We will only really know if there is success at five years. Meaning the ship can be pointing right at the iceberg, but the BOM is expected to ride it out while the appointed TEA staff cashes in. Any disagreement and you can be removed.
For those selected to move past the LSG session, they are holding interviews on January 31, 2026. These are comprised of a Panel Interview and an Observational Interview. Those who make it past the interview are then subject to fingerprinting and conflict of interest / financial disclosure screening.
Interestingly, the TEA published the criteria above as an ‘outline of remaining components of the application’ process, but then 11 days AFTER the first LSG training, added a step to the process. An email was sent to those in the first LSG on December 18, 2025 telling attendees that they must complete a new ‘Mindset Performance Task’ assignment to remain in consideration. This assignment was not mentioned to those who attended the first weekend of LSG training. This came across to many as a very unorganized misstep on the part of the TEA. How did they not know this would be a ‘required’ step when the process was laid out?
Our primary concern is that we have no transparency. We do not know if those who get selected actually attended the full 16 hours of training. We do not know if they completed the Mindset Performance Task. We do not know if they are actually being interviewed. We don’t even know if they live in the FWISD boundaries. As tax-paying citizens, we have a right to know.
