Judson ISD board authorizes investigations into trustees and confirms superintendent’s authority over PIA assignments
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Following a Feb. 14 closed-session consultation, the Judson ISD board voted to authorize investigations into alleged conduct by trustees and confirm superintendent authority over certain employee-complaint and public-information matters; votes ranged from unanimous to 4–3.
The Judson ISD Board of Trustees on Feb. 14 authorized several investigations and delegated authority to the superintendent on employee complaints and public-information requests.
After a closed-session legal consultation, the board took open-session action on multiple items. The board confirmed the superintendent’s authority to initiate investigations of employee complaints related to trustee Jose Macias (motion moved by Miss Kenoyer, second by Miss Stanford); the motion passed 7–0.
The board then voted 7–0 to initiate an independent investigation into alleged abuse of board authority and employee retaliation by board president Monica Ryan and authorized Walsh Gallegos, Kyle Robinson and De Los Santos to conduct that probe (motion moved by Miss Kenoyer, seconded by Miss Ryan). In addition, the board authorized a separate investigation regarding allegations about trustee Jose Macias, assigning JCA Law to conduct that review; that motion passed 4–3 (motion by Miss Ryan, second by Miss Poteet). Finally, the trustees confirmed the superintendent’s authority to assign Public Information Act requests to law firms; that motion passed 7–0.
Trustee Jose Macias said he viewed multiple complaints filed against him as retaliatory and tied them to his requests for an investigation into the board president; he framed his social-media posts as protected speech. "Most of the complaints that are filed here were done after I asked for an investigation of Monica Ryan," Macias said. Several trustees, including Miss Kenoyer, said they believed the complaints merited investigation and repeatedly noted the friction between trustees that led to the agenda items. Miss Kenoyer explicitly moved to authorize investigations into alleged retaliation and abuse of authority.
The motions were procedural directives to launch investigations; the board did not announce investigative findings at the meeting. The board also adjourned into closed session to consult with counsel under Texas Government Code §551.071 about multiple legal issues, including alleged violations of penal-code provisions and district policies (BBF local/legal; DIA local/legal). When the board reconvened at 12:34 p.m., the president said no final action was taken while in closed session.
Investigations now authorized will be carried out by the named firms and by the superintendent’s office; trustees did not set public timelines for the reports during the meeting. The authorization of multiple reviews reflects heightened board conflict exposed during recent meetings and a divided vote (4–3) on at least one investigation.
The board will meet again Monday to consider middle-school consolidation decisions; the newly authorized investigations proceed independently of that upcoming vote.