(Texas Scorecard) – Families gathered outside the Rockwall courthouse Saturday morning to pray with a mother who believes her child was sexually abused by a teacher in Rockwall Independent School District.
Community members were also there to protest how officials kept the case quiet and let the teacher return to the classroom.
“They never notified anyone. They did not put students first. They brushed it under the rug,” Rockwall mom Corey Booth told a few dozen parents at the early-morning protest, which had been organized just the day before.
Corey’s shocking story accusing a female pre-K teacher at Springer Elementary of molesting her then 4-year-old son went viral Friday on social media.
With a new school year starting on Monday, Corey and her husband Tim Booth had decided to end their months of silence so unsuspecting families would be made aware of what happened and could demand changes in how Rockwall ISD handles allegations of abuse.
“There needs to be a change,” she said Saturday. “We have to demand it.”
In addition to posting on Facebook, Corey placed flyers on parents’ cars during Thursday night’s “Meet the Teacher” event at Springer.
“It was the only thing I could do to let parents know,” Corey explained to the families gathered Saturday. “I can’t have another case come up and know I was silent.”
The district sent a notice Friday afternoon to Springer Elementary families and staff calling Corey’s action “disruptive” and stating they notified the Rockwall police “due to safety concerns.”
At Saturday’s protest, Corey said there was no disruption or hostility, and no one asked her to leave.
Corey recounted details from her original post made Thursday and another post made Friday in response to the school’s message. She also shared new information about how authorities handled her family’s case.
“I’m terrified of Monday,” a mom with a child at another Rockwall elementary school said after hearing Corey’s story.
The Most Disturbing Thing a Mother Could Hear
Last fall, the Booths’ son described to his parents in detail how his teacher held him back from recess, went into the bathroom with him, and exposed herself while touching him. He also said the teacher penetrated him with her finger.
Corey called it “absolutely the most disturbing, upsetting thing a mother could ever hear.”
She and Tim reported their son’s outcry of abuse on November 1. The teacher and a classroom aide were placed on paid leave while the Rockwall County Sheriff’s Office and Children’s Advocacy Center investigated.
The district attorney presented the case to a grand jury on March 27. The case was “no billed,” meaning jurors decided not enough evidence was presented to prosecute.
When Corey learned the teacher was back in the classroom—her older son had to call her from school to tell her—the mom withdrew her children.
Protecting Students and Good Teachers
Some of Saturday’s protesters called on Rockwall ISD to fire the teacher, identified as Jamie Palmer, and Springer Elementary Principal Andrea Olive.
The Booths want the district to put cameras in classrooms, not just in hallways as they are now.
On Facebook, Corey had posted “Our ultimate goal is to write legislation to have cameras in every classroom which would not only protect students, keep schools safe from pedophiles, but also protect teachers from being wrongly accused.”
“It protects children and good teachers,” she said Saturday.
“There are a lot of good teachers out there,” she added. “I pray they speak up. Teachers who are being told to keep silent need to come forward and unify to protect children.”
More Details
Corey said Saturday her family regrets not speaking up sooner, but the sheriff’s office, school officials, and the district attorney told them to keep quiet because talking publicly would jeopardize their case.
According to Corey, after the CAC first spoke with her son, the sheriff’s office investigator told her “the interview didn’t go as expected” and they were hoping the accused perpetrator was the teacher’s aide, not the head teacher.
She and Tim believed someone from the sheriff’s office or school would notify other parents in the classroom about the allegations, but she has since learned that didn’t happen.
Corey also said it appears investigators did not interview other students in the class and only talked to Palmer and the aide.
“They never informed any of the parents,” she said Saturday. “The sheriff’s office said they would talk to other families. We thought they had.”
She said investigators also told her that school resources officers found surveillance video that appeared to show the teacher keeping her son and another boy in class during recess.
Yet the video was not presented to the grand jury. The family says the assistant DA told them the district deleted it.
After the jury’s decision, Corey said the DA advised them that the video and other information would not have made a difference, and the sheriff and Principal Olive told her to “let it go” and “move on.”
Corey noted that the case can be refiled if new information becomes available, and she said “a multitude” of people from Springer have reached out to report similar problems.
Parent advocates with Texas Education 911 told Texas Scorecard that data they requested from the Texas Education Agency shows Palmer was never reported to the state for her alleged educator misconduct. Since the district failed to report her, the parents said they will.
“We thought we were moving into a safe community,” Corey said Saturday.
Instead, they found a “good old boys club.”
Connections
Booth said she thinks one reason her case was “brushed under the rug” is Palmer being from one of the oldest families in Rockwall and “very connected.”
Palmer’s great-grandfather, Ollie Lester Steger, was a real estate agent who at various times served as mayor of Rockwall, president of the Rockwall ISD school board, and Rockwall County’s clerk and tax assessor-collector.
Her aunt, Diana Steger Chapman, worked for Rockwall ISD for 42 years under six superintendents, according to an April 17 Instagram post by outgoing State Rep. Justin Holland (R-Heath). In 2023, as executive administrative assistant to the superintendent, Chapman’s salary was $86,000.
Rockwall Mayor Trace Johannesen weighed in Saturday to defend his fellow elected officials, posting to Facebook that people should use “facts and logic” and not be “jumping to conclusions.”
Johannesen claimed the school district and law enforcement followed proper procedures, and he was “skeptical of the whole truth of these accusations.”
“The Rockwall ISD Board of Trustees… are people I know and trust personally,” wrote Johannesen. “I know and trust Sheriff Garrett. He is a lifelong Rockwall resident whom we elected and trust to handle these situations on behalf of us in the public.”
“I cannot fathom that literally dozens of our fellow upstanding Rockwall County citizens conspired to cover up something illegal,” he added. “Therefore, I assume that the social media posts are not presenting the whole story.”
A commenter noted that another elected official, former Rockwall City Councilman Patrick Trowbridge, was arrested in 2020 on child pornography charges and sent to prison for 10 years.
A dad at Saturday’s protest reminded the crowd that Rockwall fireman Jason Frankenfield was arrested in June for possessing messages featuring sexually explicit images of girls who were 8 to 11 years old. Frankenfield told police they were “just role-playing.”
“Rockwall has a problem,” the parent said. “We need to do something.”
The Booths’ allegations are not the first sex abuse scandal to rock Rockwall ISD.
Last year, parents of six kindergarten girls sued the district and the since-replaced principal of Rochelle Elementary after a Cain Middle School student allegedly sexually assaulted the girls while participating in an unauthorized school program.
In 2021, a Cain Middle School orchestra teacher was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending sexually explicit emails to an eighth-grader whose blood he also wanted to drink.
“Bad people can hide in plain sight,” Rockwall County District Attorney Kenda Culpepper said at the time.
Mom Carrie Byrd commented on Johannsen’s post that the current social media firestorm is the fault of the district and Superintendent John Villarreal “for breeding a culture of silence and keeping parents in the dark.”
It is well known that the motto is “do anything to stay out of the news”. This has backfired and is 100% on the superintendent for not informing people. Can you imagine finding out that your child’s teacher was under investigation for sexually assaulting your child’s classmate on a Facebook post months after the incident?
I will add that Rockwall ISD has a long history of not informing parents. Just watch a few school board meetings during comments made by parents.
Tim Booth also responded to the mayor’s post, saying he and Corey came forward publicly to protect children.
“I am not going to look back on this situation and think about what I did not do for my child and have him ask why I did not fight for him. Who will fight for the future of these children?” he wrote.
Tim noted that many Rockwall ISD families “have tried to be heard but have been silenced.”
We have used facts and logic, we have waited since October to make this public. We trusted the due process, we followed the “be quiet” advice, and waited for months to see what would happen…
While going through the due process evidence went missing…
None of the parents were notified about the situation with their child’s classroom. You can speak about due process and facts but the facts were that there was an ongoing investigation and not one person in that classroom knew about anything going on. If safety is paramount then the measures you take in schools do not align with the standards that are needed to protect the children.
Fate City Councilwoman Codi Chiin, whose children attend school in Rockwall ISD, attended Saturday’s protest and spoke with Corey and other concerned families.
“Parents in that school are the ones who are going to create change,” said Chiin.
Several parents plan to speak at the next school board meeting on August 19.
At that meeting, trustees will also propose placing a tax increase on the November 5 ballot.
Questions can be directed to the Rockwall ISD board of trustees.
The district responded to a request for comment by sharing a notice sent to Springer Elementary parents and teachers on Sunday.
“Please be assured that the safety of your child(ren) and our campus staff is our highest priority,” the statement concluded.
