Argyle ISD's Telena Wright retires, but passion for students, public education still at her core

“Back in ‘08, when I first worked in this position — when I worked in the interim position and then the superintendent position — it was a desire to see the district achieve what they were capable of achieving, and to provide them with opportunities for success. To make sure that each student could become the most that they were capable of, that they could reach their highest potential.”

During Wright’s tenure, Argyle ISD has achieved growth in academics, fine arts and extracurricular programs. She has been at the district’s helm through three successful bond programs — in 2014, 2017 and 2022. During her leadership, the district has built three new campuses and is planning three more. The bonds included renovations to two campuses and the new administration building.

Wright leaves the district with one of the highest distinction ratings in the state, and the highest in Denton County. Argyle ISD earned an “A” state accountability rating by the Texas Education Agency and district score of 97 in 2022. It is the highest score in the district’s history.

Wright worked with the Argyle ISD School Board, administrators and staff to unveil a 10-year strategic plan earlier this year.

Wright said public education has changed during her career. Any educator prioritizes educational standards, but some priorities have gotten more urgent than they were.

“In all of the schools across the nation, safety and security has become the most important, singular issue in the last 15 years,” Wright said. “It’s always been important, but it’s become more and more important in the last two decades, particularly. So you always start with the focus on safety and security.”

Argyle ISD now has its own police department, which Wright considers a win for students and staff across the district.

Once officials have done their best to develop safety and security, officials have to prepare students for adulthood.

“I’m always looking at what does our curriculum look like? What opportunities for instruction are we delivering to our students?” Wright said. “It’s a matter of prioritizing things, and then what can we do in terms of extracurricular activities that will help our students become more capable, and what will help them to have an outlet through the fine arts — maybe like band or choir or theater arts — that they might not have? So it’s really a matter of just setting priorities and then executing those priorities.”

Wright has also shepherded campuses through the enrollment growth, which has involved building new campuses, moving students into the new spaces and then flipping some campuses between grade levels to make the most of the district’s facilities.

She has teamed up with teachers and administrators as Argyle ISD grew into a digital environment, where students use Chromebooks and the internet to supplement the classroom. She’s also led the district in bringing more vocational offerings to students, and is especially proud of courses that prepare students for careers in education and law enforcement.

“It is impossible for me to express how much Dr. Wright means to me and the impact that she has made on this district and the field of education,” Argyle ISD board President Sam Slaton said in a statement.

Slaton has known Dr. Wright since he was a student at Marcus High School in Flower Mound.

“Dr. Wright’s passion to serve this district, her knowledge of the education field, her wisdom, ethics, approachability, and care for the well-being of all are just a short list of the numerous qualities that speak to how special Dr. Wright is,” Slaton said.

Retirement will only be partial for Wright. She will continue to teach master’s degree courses in education law at the University of North Texas. She’s also a licensed professional counselor and might take on some opportunities to use that expertise. But she does plan to travel extensively, and will soon head to South America.

Amid growth in Argyle, Wright retires at a turbulent time for Texas’ public schools. Anxieties that erupted during the COVID-19 pandemic morphed into suspicions about books in Texas school libraries.

Wright said that she has been fortunate to work with teachers and administrators who are devoted to students and guiding them toward a future full of possibilities.

“I do believe that it’s important that a parent has the opportunity to go look at instructional materials and if the parent doesn’t want their child to maybe read a novel, or maybe they don’t want their child to participate in a certain project of some kind, I feel like it’s important for that parent to have an option presented to them that the child can do,” she said.

“I think that we do have to respect the beliefs and the wishes of the parents. I believe that the teachers that I know are totally and completely committed to the well-being, and the welfare, and the safety and security of students.

“There’s no doubt that pandemic that COVID was a challenging environment in which to try to educate students,” she said. “That was very challenging.”

Wright is a big believer in public education and thinks families and communities can trust schools to join them in preparing children to become citizens who can make a contribution in the future.

“Public school is the key to their future,” she said. “Public school is going to give them options in life. It’s going to give them a way to support themselves. It’s going to give them a way to connect with their community.”