Carroll school district says feds haven’t provided specifics on civil rights violation
The Southlake Carroll school district is waiting for a detailed explanation from the U.S. Department of Education after the district received a letter concerning civil rights violations against students.
School board president Cameron Bryan said during Monday’s regularly scheduled meeting that the district has contacted the Office for Civil Rights three times requesting specific details concerning the civil rights violations.
Bryan said the Office of Civil Rights gave the district 90 days to respond to the letter and to sign “a proposed resolution of action items” pertaining to the four civil rights complaints that were investigated.
He did not provide details on what the resolution said.
The Star-Telegram has requested a copy of the letter from the Carroll ISD.
A spokesperson from the Education Department wrote in an email that the Office of Civil Rights doesn’t comment on pending investigations.
Bryan added that Carroll spent over $320,000 of taxpayer dollars and thousands of staff hours to provide documentation to the Office of Civil Rights.
The district has fully cooperated with the Office of Civil Rights, Bryan said.
The complaints, which go back three years, describe discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and race.
Trustees also reviewed the complaints and “steadfastly” stands behind the teachers, administrators and principals who investigated the complaints, Bryan said.
Punishment was “meted out” when appropriate, he said.
Bryan said it is easy for people to state that the Carroll school district engaged in harassment against the students or failed to protect them.
“However to substantiate such a statement, what you must demonstrate is that those teachers, principals and counselors who handled the bulk of the investigations of the complaints didn’t care about the students enough to protect them. This is not a conclusion we are prepared to make without actual evidence.
It is still unfathomable to this board, how any reasonable person would agree to essentially signing a confession without knowing what you’re guilty of and why.”
Bryan also updated the audience on the district’s lawsuit against the Biden Administration seeking to block the expanded Title IX rules broadening protections to LGBTQ+ students from taking effect on Aug. 1.
Bryan said there have been court rulings stopping the Title IX changes from taking effect in Louisiana and Kentucky but they would go in to effect in Texas, which is why the district is suing.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based law firm that worked to overturn Roe V. Wade, filed the lawsuit on the district’s behalf last month, and is providing pro bono representation.
The suit was filed in the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas, and Bryan said to expect a ruling from “our court” in July.
Most who spoke during public comments said they supported the district’s stance on the Title IX protections, calling them “a war on women” by the Biden Administration.
Southlake resident Mika Ryan commended the school district for standing up to the Biden Administration.
She described her involvement in high school and collegiate basketball where she played at the University of North Carolina.
Her three daughters are also athletes.
“The current administration’s Title IX changes are an insult to me, our daughters, and particularly our Southlake Carroll female athletes who are living this nightmarish overreach with the very real possibility of boys in their bathrooms, locker rooms, and boys being allowed to participate on their teams simply by identifying as a girl,” she said. “I’ve written to the current president and multiple elected officials to express my disbelief about this disregard of women’s privacy girls privacy and equal opportunities.”
Henry Chapman, who is in the 11th grade at Carroll Senior High School, also thanked the board for suing the Biden Administration.
“The Biden administration is so after Texas right now and Southlake because of the influence Southlake holds on the state of Texas and as one of the wealthiest cities in the state of Texas,” Chapman said.
“The Biden Administration knows not to mess with Texas but what they need to know more is to not mess with Texas’ future, and that is us, the kids of the schools, and if you do mess with us we’ll come back fighting.”
