A heavily redacted investigative report concluded there were "systemic issues and/or failures" in Athletics at Celina ISD and Moore Middle School amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Caleb Elliott, a former Moore Middle School eighth-grade football coach, is facing federal and state charges for allegedly recording students changing in the boys locker room. He’s also facing multiple lawsuits — and thanks to a new state law that went into effect September 1, so is Celina ISD, the school district that employed him.
Attorneys for the alleged victims’ families say the district tried to cover up the abuse to protect the high school football reputation. Bill Elliott, Caleb Elliott’s father, led the team to win the state championship in 2024. Bill Elliott retired as Celina ISD’s athletic director and high school football coach days before the redacted report was released.
Allison Ginn, the Moore Middle School principal, also resigned shortly before the report was published. Both Ginn and Bill Elliott were placed on leave during the investigation.
Celina ISD hired attorney Giana Ortiz to investigate the allegations against Caleb Elliott and the district. A heavily redacted report released to the public on Friday evening stated there was no evidence to support allegations that district officials had prior knowledge of Caleb Elliott's misconduct — but it did detail evidence that Caleb Elliott may have received special treatment during his hiring process, a violation of board policy.
Exerting Influence
Bill Elliott allegedly influenced the hiring process for his son according to the report. Witnesses close to Ginn told the investigator she didn't want to hire Caleb Elliott, who had failed his teacher certification exam by 21 points. Bill Elliott told the investigator asking that positions stay open until a coach passed the certification exam wasn't unusual and not exclusive to Caleb Elliott.
Ginn, according to the report, acted as a reference for Caleb Elliott during his hiring process rather than contacting the references on his application.
Although the report outlined concerns about the hiring process for Caleb Elliott and a witness’ statement that Elliott seemed immature, the investigator concluded there was no evidence indicating Elliott was capable of misconduct prior to students’ reports last October.
“There is not evidence that Caleb Elliott should not have been hired due to any alleged misconduct (known or unknown) at the time he was hired,” the report said. “Further, there is not evidence that there was any reason to suspect he might someday go on to commit misconduct at the time he was hired.”
The report outlined concerns about Bill Elliott’s capabilities as an administrator, noting he didn’t have an administrator certification, which would be expected of an athletic director for a district of Celina ISD’s size.
During the investigation, a safe containing a large amount of cash was found in Bill Elliott’s office according to the report. A witness told the investigator doctors would perform physicals for athletes and donate the money for the physicals to the athletics department, which kept no records of the donations or how they were used according to the report.
The district wasn’t aware of the donations according to the investigation.
Addressing allegations
The lawsuits allege that Caleb Elliott had an inappropriate relationship with a male student while substitute teaching at the high school before he was hired at Moore Middle School. The report concluded the relationship began in summer 2024 after the student had graduated high school based on the Celina Police Department’s forensic review of Caleb Elliott’s phone.
Caleb Elliott’s sexuality was “the talk of the town” in fall 2024 according to the report. Multiple witnesses said Caleb Elliott’s coming out caused a strain between him and Bill Elliott. An unnamed witness moved Caleb Elliott from the locker room to the cafeteria for the 2024-2025 school year because there were board members who were upset he had come out as gay according to the report.
“No evidence suggests Caleb Elliott was ever ‘excluded,’ from the locker room — or that any witness had knowledge that he was banned in any way,” the report said.
Caleb Elliott sold an Apple Watch and cologne to a student in March 2025 according to the report. He emailed the parent of the student apologizing for giving the student the watch, which Caleb Elliott explained was a reward for completing work during class. An unnamed witness told the independent investigator they didn’t see the behavior as “grooming” but as “a dumb teacher making dumb decisions.”
The report addresses several allegations listed in the lawsuits, including accusations that a staff member confronted Caleb Elliott about previous attempts to record students in the locker room. No witnesses reported hearing about the allegation while Caleb Elliott was still employed.
Texas State Rep. Mitch Little, who represents 17 of the families that are suing Celina ISD, said the district is more focused on protecting its reputation than the children it serves. Little wrote the law that allows school districts to be held liable for employees’ sexual misconduct.
“You would think if they were prioritizing the children that they would have at least tried to speak to some of them, have their so-called an independent investigator speak to them,” Little said. “But I guess that wasn't important enough to do. They're way more concerned with image management and trying to isolate the harm to Caleb Elliott.”
Paul Herz, who’s suing Caleb Elliott and Celina ISD on behalf of 12 alleged victims, said the independent investigation was rushed.
“This has been a very quick job to put out any liability, any responsibility, any risk for the school district, and everyone else is kind of just collateral damage, and that includes the families,” Herz said.
If the lawsuits succeed, Celina ISD could end up owing the plaintiffs up to about $15.5 million in restitution — the Texas law limits damages to $500,000 per claimant. The district’s operating expenses for the adopted budget for the 2025-2026 school year is $104,139,746 according to school budget documents — the same amount as Celina ISD’s total revenue for that school year.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
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Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
