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Parents and students press Katy ISD board for transparency after alleged Taylor High assault
Summary
At the April 22 Board of Trustees meeting, multiple parents and students urged Katy ISD to clarify its self‑defense and bullying policies, reopen an investigation and release evidence they say was withheld; trustees cautioned speakers not to discuss identifiable students and offered to refer concerns to administrative channels.
At the April 22 meeting of the Board of Trustees of Acadia Independent School District, a string of public commenters demanded policy changes and transparency after what they described as an assault at Taylor High School.
Parent Amanda Valdivia told the board Katy ISD should make its self‑defense and harassment procedures clear during enrollment and asked the district to notify families explicitly; she said a local poll she conducted showed about "85%" of parents support students defending themselves and volunteered to serve as a third‑party mediator. "Katy ISD needs to make their policy on self defense and their procedures for handling harassment, bullying, and threats extremely clear during the enrollment process," Valdivia said.
Rebecca Trahan said no child should be punished for defending themselves and called the district’s "mutual combat" rules out of date, urging the board to amend discipline policies to protect both students and teachers. "We need a stronger self defense policy... They should have never been written that way in the first place," Trahan said.
Danny Jim Francisco told trustees he had sought records after a video showed his daughter being assaulted and said the district provided a heavily redacted incident report and that Katy ISD’s attorney sought permission from the attorney general to withhold additional evidence. "I demand that the investigation be reopened and the video evidence be considered in conjunction with the district's definition of assault," Francisco said, adding he would not "be bullied by KISD to be silent."
A student speaker, Brooklyn Jan Francesco, described the March 25 incident as "clearly an assault" and said she no longer felt safe at school. Several speakers and later trustees emphasized the board could not discuss or disclose personally identifiable student information during public comment and reminded the public of grievance and administrative review channels.
Board President Perez repeatedly cautioned callers to focus on policy rather than identifying details and said staff should follow district grievance procedures when parents raise student‑specific complaints.
The board did not take formal action on the self‑defense policy at this meeting. Trustees noted that individual complaints should be directed to campus principals and the superintendent for review and said they would consider the concerns as part of ongoing policy discussions. The board later adjourned to closed session for other matters and returned to open session late in the evening.
