Editor’s Note: Due to the nature of the allegations reported within this story, the minor status of the individual making the allegations and the fact that no formal charges have been issued, names have been withheld.
COLMESNEIL – During the open forum portion of the regular monthly meeting of the Colmesneil ISD Board of Trustees, a student spoke, and alleged improper conduct on the part of a former educator with the district.
In summary the student explained, “I’m here because this person involved called me, extremely intoxicated, expressing his feelings for me and making me extremely uncomfortable any chance he got.”
The student went on to explain that in late December, the person texted her, claiming he needed someone to talk with, and then claimed he missed the student.
The student, a female, went on to state that the former CISD employee “told me how much he loved me and missed me and how he couldn’t wait to see me at school. He said our age gap shouldn’t matter if we were really soulmates. It’s not appropriate, it’s not. I didn’t say over 20 words in that call.”
The student said that she felt “devastated and scared,” and that she and her mother filed a report with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office.
The former employee’s presence at on-campus events has made her uncomfortable, she said.
Along with the texts and the phone call she cited, she also alleged that the former employee would give her alcohol and “force us to dance with him and cuddle” at his home.
She continued that the incident was not “a one-time thing” at his home, and that it happened “every time” she visited.
“You may ask why I kept going over there knowing what would happen. I would try to stay home and let his daughter come to my house, but he insisted. I do believe now that I could have stopped what was happening, but I was too scared to speak up, but now I’m not, so that is why I am here today,” she said.
Facility upgrades to ADA guidelines discussed
During the regular part of the meeting, board member Donna Davis Lee wrote a comprehensive report on facility upgrades based on the softball and football fields and made suggestions of thing needed to make sure the district is in compliance with ADA guidelines.
“I went up a week ago and just did a general walk through. I didn’t really look in depth. There are several things that need to be repaired and brought up to ADA standards, and I would appreciate the board getting together and seeing what we can do to figure it out,” Lee said.
Superintendent Sharon Tule added, “all the board members have received this report, and I would be glad to entertain this, since it is an action item tonight and any suggestions that you might have.” She added, the recommendations are that we address ADA compliance issues, conduct deep cleaning of all facilities with hand sanitation, repair and replace damaged structural elements, evaluate and update the concession stand facilities and schedule regular inspections to maintain standards.”
Tule wants to address these things specifically and put them on the agenda for April’s board meeting, scheduled for April 14, with ideas on how to correct these things.
The next agenda item was the discussion to approve Target Solutions Roofing to do roof repairs. This item had been discussed at the February meeting, and no action was taken, pending further discussion. Tule explained, “we looked further to ensure that everyone was given the same opportunities, and also asked Bill Cooper to narrow his public information request, which he narrowed down to 61 items, and basically, he’s asking for hard drives, digital documents, computer programs, cloud documents, etc. It doesn’t change the fact that he was $60K more than Target Solutions Roofing. They are willing to start this project the first day of summer break. I would like the board to approve Target for the High School and CATE building repairs.”
Board president Eric Lee added “It is noted at the last board meeting that this was a fair, open bid, we allowed Mr. Cooper the opportunity to bid apples to apples for the roof repairs, and still, with that being said, Target bid $60K under what Cooper bid. 60K to a school district as small as ours, that’s not chump change”.
After a lengthy discussion, the board approved Target Solutions Roofing to do the roof repairs.
