The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) could be trying to bring the hammer down on local school districts after several controversies drew national attention.
Carroll Independent School District (CISD) is currently facing eight open federal investigations: three for “Race and National Origin Discrimination,” two for “Sex Discrimination,” and three for “Disability Discrimination,” according to the OCR’s website.
The district first made national headlines in 2018 when a viral video of students using racial slurs prompted some community members to claim race-based harassment was a problem at CISD, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
The timing of the investigations has led some community members to believe that the Department of Education is targeting the district.
Following school board elections in May of last year, when two candidates that weren’t far-left secured seats on CISD’s Board of Trustees, and a special election that saw another candidate seated in November, the OCR announced it was opening three investigations into the district.
Shortly after the OCR’s announcement, Southlake Families PAC suggested in an email to its members that known left-wing activists in the district had contacted the Department of Education, prompting the investigations.
“Elections have consequences. This is what happens when dangerous left-wing extremists control the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and the White House. It is also what happens when local extremists refuse to accept the will of the people in our local elections and upon losing at the polls call federal bullies into our city to try to intimidate our town,” read the email.
The Dallas Express reached out to Southlake Families PAC for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The organization’s founder — and now Tarrant County judge — Tim O’Hare told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2021, “Joe Biden and the Democrats have no right to interfere in one of the highest performing school districts in Texas because our community chose to reject the brainwashing of our kids through Critical Race Theory teachings.”
The Dallas Express reached out to O’Hare for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the more rural Granbury Independent School District also found itself in the crosshairs of the Department of Education after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas lodged complaints against the district over its removal of library books reportedly containing pornographic content.
The ACLU of Texas also filed complaints on similar grounds against Frisco Independent School District and Keller Independent School District; however, the OCR has yet to move on these districts.
Despite the investigations and controversies, CISD remains one of the best-performing school districts in the state, with a 99.9% on-time graduation rate, according to its latest Texas Education Agency accountability report.
Additionally, 88% of CISD students scored at grade level on last year’s STAAR exams, far above the low statewide average of 48%.
The statewide average itself is higher than the troubled Dallas Independent School District, which saw only 41% of its students score at grade level.
The Dallas Express reached out to the OCR and asked whether there is any real evidence to warrant investigating CISD and, if so, why it has not been made public.
No response was forthcoming as of press time.
