Shock and outrage among parents and community members continue at Prosper Independent School District (PISD) after months of scandals involving allegations of staff and administrators having inappropriate contact with minors.
Most recently, at a school board meeting on Tuesday, the district’s board of trustees opted to make an appointment to the former board president’s trustee seat, despite calls from angry parents and constituents to hold a special election instead.
“This community has been rocked. The lines between right and wrong have been blurred,” said James Pope, per the Texas Scorecard. “I’m for letting the people decide.”
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the last board president, Andrew Wilborn, resigned after being arrested for allegedly having sexual contact with a child in April 2022.
This latest scandal came on the heels of community protests against district leaders following the revelation that a district school bus driver had been accused of sexually assaulting two elementary school students more than 100 times.
In both cases, parents and community members accused the board of trustees of not being transparent. Trustees claimed they only learned of Wilborn’s alleged crime after he was arrested. In the latter case, the board failed to inform parents of the allegations against bus driver until almost a year after the alleged abuse was discovered.
A recent poll conducted by The Dallas Express found that such concerns are shared across North Texas, with a plurality of respondents saying their local school districts need to be more transparent.
This sentiment was especially pronounced among respondents within the Dallas Independent School District, probably in light of its many scandals regarding alleged grade manipulation, corruption, and campus violence.
“We do not trust you to choose a replacement,” said Shelly Creel to the board, per the Texas Scorecard. “Please show some real respect for the people. … If you appoint, it shows that you want to continue to cover up.”
A single trustee offered a motion to vote on holding a special election in May, but the motion was not seconded — snuffing out, for now, the opportunity for constituents to pick a replacement.
Still, some in attendance did not seem to have a problem with the board picking a temporary replacement.
According to the Texas Scorecard, PISD teacher Janette Church said, “Elections don’t always get it right.”
The Dallas Express reached out to the sitting trustees and asked them why the majority felt they should appoint someone to the seat rather than allow the district’s constituents to decide on a new trustee in a special election. No responses were received by the time of publication.
