"We felt blindsided": Fort Worth ISD defends use of cameras in classrooms after parents raise privacy concerns

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fort Worth ISD has installed web cameras in certain classrooms at its lowest performing schools as part of a turnaround program, but some families say they weren't informed of the additions until after the school year started.

Fort Worth ISD in-classroom cameras

What we know:

Fort Worth ISD has installed web cameras in third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms at schools in its Elevate Model, which are the lowest-performing schools in the district.

The cameras will live stream students and teachers inside the classroom.

In a statement, Fort Worth ISD says the cameras are meant to promote "instructional continuity," saying students will remain supervised if a teacher steps out of the room, and students who are temporarily removed due to discipline can continue accessing the teacher's live lesson without disrupting the classroom.

The district says the web cameras have been a part of the Elevate Model since it was introduced, and that the cameras will not record the classroom.

What they're saying:

"Web cameras have been included as part of the instructional technology expectations of the ELEVATE Model since its inception. The purpose of the web cameras is instructional continuity. The web cameras are intended to provide a live instructional feed when circumstances require a student to access high-quality instruction from a location other than the student's assigned classroom," Fort Worth ISD said in a statement.

"We felt blindsided"

The other side:

Some parents of Fort Worth ISD students say they were not made aware that cameras would be installed in their child's classroom until a week after the 2026-27 school year started.

"We felt blindsided by that this week," Zach Leonard, a Fort Worth ISD parent, tells FOX 4's Dionne Anglin.

Leonard is also the President of F.O.R.T., an advocacy group that stands for Families Organized and Responding to Takeover. He says the web cameras show a lack of respect for the district's teachers.

"The biggest concern we have is about the lack of respect for our teachers," Leonard continued. "Although they say that surveillance is not the intent, one has to ask, is that the ulterior motive? Or is that the secondary byproduct of having a webcam on in every single classroom to help control teachers and to monitor?"

Leonard also questions the legality of the camera policy.

"Has there been legal sign off on this? Do all parents know and fully sign off on this plan? The answer we've gotten from parents is, ‘No, I wasn’t aware of this'."

Dig deeper:

Houston ISD has implemented a similar web camera policy since it was taken over by the Texas Education Agency.

Fort Worth ISD was taken over by the TEA last October.

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