Documents obtained by The Dallas Express suggest that City Council Member Adam Bazaldua may have assaulted a female student in an altercation while teaching at the Dallas Independent School District (DISD).
The incident occurred on November 8, 2017, at Skyline High School, where Bazaldua was working as a culinary instructor. An investigation yielded a recommendation that he be issued a Letter of Reprimand for violating Standard 3.2 of the Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics.
A child abuse report was also filed. However, it is currently unclear whether the complaint was received or sustained by DISD, the Texas Department of Family Protective Services, the Dallas Police Department (DPD), or the DISD Police Department.
The Dallas Express reached out to Council Member Bazaldua’s office for comment, asking when the council member stopped working at DISD and what the circumstances were surrounding his departure.
Additionally, The Dallas Express asked whether he made any statement regarding the incident with the female student to DPD, the DISD Police Department, or any agency associated with child protective services.
Bazaldua’s office emailed the following reply:
“As you continue your research, you will find that not only was he breaking up a fight, but the claim was found unsubstantiated, and the case was dropped. Councilmember Bazaldua left his employment with DISD in 2019 when he was elected to represent District 7.”
The email noted that Bazaldua himself had no comment on the matter “at this time.”
The documents obtained by The Dallas Express do not indicate that the council member was “breaking up a fight,” and the administrative investigator noted that they believed there was enough evidence to sustain a violation of the ethics code.
According to the DISD administrator’s report, Bazaldua and an unidentified student were horseplaying when the female student — whose name was redacted from the report because she was a minor at the time — got involved.
The female student alleged that she stuck her arm out, but Bazaldua blocked it, purportedly causing her pain. Shortly afterward, Bazaldua approached her and “came to step on [redacted] toe,” but she backed up and fell on her already injured arm, the female student claimed.
She alleged that Bazaldua then took her phone from her and pushed her, prompting her to kick him in the groin out of “instinct.” He then grabbed her hand “and was bending [her] arm backwards saying if [she] liked it,” according to the report.
The female student told the administrator she was scared and that Bazaldua had told her to “stop crying like a baby.”
Per the report, documentation was provided to the investigating administrator indicating that the female student had sustained an elbow sprain.
Bazaldua’s account of the incident differs from the female student’s.
In his emailed statement to the investigator, Bazaldua claimed that when the female student joined in the horseplay, he deflected her forearm with his own and that she only seemed to joke about her arm hurting.
Bazaldua claimed she approached him later and attempted to joke around again, with “both her fists up in a fighting stance … making motions and gestures as if she was throwing punches.”
When she got too close, Bazaldua grabbed her fist and told her that was “enough and to stop playing around.” She then allegedly kicked him in the “crotch area.”
Bazaldua said the blow was not funny and that she had injured him. He claimed he told her that “rough housing” was not a good idea and that she should not have continued to “put her hands on [him],” after which he said her demeanor changed.
As she was getting up to leave the class, Bazaldua claimed he asked her to call her mother so that he could speak with her and explain the incident. He said he spoke with one of her relatives because the female student’s mother did not understand English well.
The administrator’s report also noted that two student witnesses saw at least some of the events. The two students claimed that Bazaldua was “being playful” but that his blocking the female student’s arm in the initial encounter did hurt her.
They also said in their statements to the administrator that Bazaldua took her phone from her because she was using it. However, they claimed they did not see him push her or bend her arm back. They also said they did not see her kick him in the groin, with the administrator noting that the two students may not have been present for those particular alleged events.
Still, “Bazaldua placed the safety of the students at risk by participating in ‘horseplay’ which resulted in a student getting hurt,” the administrator concluded, noting that there was not enough evidence to sustain the claims that he shoved her or bent her arm.
However, there was enough evidence, at least according to the administrative investigator, that Bazaldua violated Standard 3.2 of the Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics:
“The educator shall not intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly treat a student or minor in a manner that adversely affects or endangers the learning, physical health, mental health, or safety of the student or minor.”