Texas school districts could be held liable for sexual misconduct involving teachers and students thanks to a new state law.
State Representative Mitch Little from Lewisville discussed that law on Wednesday at a press conference at the Collin County courthouse in McKinney, where a pending lawsuit against Celina ISD accuses a former football coach of filming students undressing in the boys locker room.
The law, which went into effect Sep. 1, says school districts that are grossly negligent or reckless in hiring, supervising or employing someone who commits sexual misconduct against a student or fail to report suspected child abuse can be held liable for that employee’s actions in civil court.
Little ,who filed House Bill 4623, which recently became law, said he hoped the new law would be a deterrent.
“I did not in my wildest dreams imagine that we would need to apply it immediately in a school that's so close to our home,” he said.
Celina ISD and Caleb Elliott, a former eighth-grade football coach at Moore Middle School, are being sued in Collin County court after reports that Elliott allegedly recorded and watched students changing and bathing in the school locker room.
Elliott is also facing criminal charges. He was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of invasive visual recording, a state jail felony and was later arrested again for possession of child pornography, a third degree felony. And Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on social media his office is investigating the allegations against Elliott and the school district after state Representative Jeff Leach called for the investigation in a letter posted online.
KERA reached out to Elliott and his attorney in the lawsuit but didn’t received a response before this story was published.
So far, three families of the alleged victims are suing Elliott and Celina ISD over the alleged sexual misconduct. The school district could’ve been shielded from the lawsuit under governmental immunity prior to the new law, said Paul Herz, the attorney who filed the lawsuit earlier this week.
“Most of these cases would have been thrown out before, but this is a pretty specific but pretty useful legal carve out to that immunity that opens the door to suing schools and school employees for this kind of sexual misconduct or letting it happen,” Herz said.
The lawsuit alleges the school district moved Elliott to the middle school after he had an inappropriate relationship with a student while he was on the high school football coaching staff. His father, Bill Elliott, is the head football coach at the high school, which won its ninth football state championship last year, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Celina ISD has hired a third-party investigator according to a letter sent to parents shared with KERA. The attorney, Giana Ortiz, has placed Moore Middle School principal Allison Ginn and Bill Elliott on administrative leave.
Celina ISD’s superintendent, Tom Maglisceau, sent parents a letter earlier this week after the attorney general announced he was investigating.
“The District has demonstrated its commitment to aggressively pursuing resolution of the allegations and actions necessary for the well-being of our students,” Maglisceau said in the letter.
Quentin Brogdon, an attorney who is in talks with other Moore Middle school families about another lawsuit, said Celina ISD didn’t prioritize student safety.
“Instead of protecting the students, the district chosen to protect its ability to go and get another state football championship,” Brogdon said. “Something's very wrong with that picture. There needs to be accountability.”
That accountability, he said, is now possible because of the passage of HB 4623.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
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