Texas school board reinstates scandal-ridden superintendent

The Spherical Rock Unbiased College District (ISD) Board of Trustees voted to reinstate Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez Thursday evening, two months after he was suspended amid a Texas Training Affiliation investigation into household violence allegations.

“The data that we had was not solely that Travis County now not has an lively investigation and it’s closed, however the district legal professional additionally had assured us by way of one other legal professional that the case was closed,” Trustee Amy Weir, former president of the varsity board, mentioned throughout the assembly. Weir and 4 different faculty board members voted to reinstate Azaiez, whereas two others voted towards the transfer.

The varsity board met behind closed doorways to debate the superintendent, then voted to reinstate him, Texas Scorecard reported. Azaiez is ready to be reinstated as of 8 a.m. Friday.

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“I’ll simply say that for me to vote for this may require the prepared suspension of disbelief. I will probably be voting no,” Trustee Danielle Weston mentioned.

The opposite trustee who voted no, Mary Bone, countered Weir’s assertion. “We have now a letter from an legal professional that’s principally rumour,” she mentioned. “I used to be not allowed to confirm it; I used to be not allowed to have our legal professional Joey Moore confirm it, so I don’t take that into consideration.”

“And I preserve listening to that the investigation is closed. The investigation is not closed; the investigation is inactive,” Bone argued. “It says, ‘I affirm we now not have an lively investigation.’ So, meaning I suppose it may come lively anytime. It’s not suspended. It means numerous different issues, so once we say it’s closed, I believe it’s a little bit little bit of a non-truth to the general public.”

Weston and Bone have claimed that the 5 different faculty board members rushed the hiring course of for Azaiez and that the varsity board members tried to censure them in a “bare political hit job.” Weir beforehand advised Fox Information that she wouldn’t converse in regards to the censure subject as a result of it concerned lively litigation.

The scandal

Hafedh Azaiez
(Spherical Rock ISD)

Azaiez’s suspension got here months into a really public scandal.

Two fathers had gotten arrested for allegedly disturbing faculty board conferences after one among them talked about a courtroom continuing towards Azaiez. The varsity district suspended Azaiez after the Texas Training Company really useful suspension because of the accusations the superintendent confronted from his former girlfriend.

The Travis County District Courtroom beforehand supplied Fox Information with an utility for a protecting order (redacted model right here) towards Azaiez. In that doc, a girl who recognized herself as Azaiez’s girlfriend from September. 2018 to December 2020 after which from February 2021 to June 2021 claimed that when she advised Azaiez she was pregnant along with his youngster, he demanded that she get an abortion, and when she refused, he assaulted her in her house, which put her at risk of a miscarriage. 

The lady additionally claimed that Azaiez advised her, “the varsity board president [Amy Weir, at the time] was conscious and had provided to guard him, she was informing him of all the things and assured him he wouldn’t lose his job. Up to now, I had heard conversations between him and the varsity board president plotting issues and maintaining issues from different faculty board members.”

Weir beforehand advised Fox Information that “the knowledge within the sworn assertion concerning me is fake.”

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Azaiez’s lawyer’s response

Hafedh Azaiez
(Spherical Rock ISD)

Mary Nix, the legal professional representing Azaiez, famous that “all purposes for protecting orders, together with the one to which you refer, include ‘allegations’ that are unproven and will not be ‘information.’ As I succinctly said in a January 5, 2022 press launch, we now have goal proof that the alleged assault, which is the genesis of this controversy, didn’t happen and we imagine that proof to be incontrovertible.”

“Lastly, realizing that the applying to which you refer comprises unproven allegations a few private matter, the Spherical Rock ISD faculty board rightfully made its hiring determination based mostly on Dr. Azaiez’s skilled {qualifications},” Nix added.

In her Jan. 5, 2022, press launch, Nix wrote that “the non-public dispute between Dr. Azaiez and the third-party complainant was amicably resolved and there’s a confidential settlement settlement. An agreed-upon civil restraining order was entered into by and between Dr. Azaiez and the complainant.”

Nix didn’t elaborate on the character of the proof, in addition to repeating that it’s “incontrovertible.”

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The arrests

Jeremy Story getting escorted out of a Spherical Rock ISD faculty board assembly
(Jeremy Story)

The Williamson County Sheriff’s Workplace arrested Jeremy Story, a father of seven youngsters who lives within the district however whose youngsters attend faculty outdoors it, and Dustin Clark, a father of 4 youngsters in RRISD colleges, on Sept. 17, 2021, on one misdemeanor cost every of hinder continuing by disorderly conduct. 

The cost towards Story traced again to an Aug. 16 board assembly wherein Story tried to voice issues about Azaiez. Throughout that assembly, then-board President Weir minimize Story off, warning him not to talk about a subject unrelated to the assembly’s agenda. After he uttered the phrases “protecting order,” RRISD police escorted him out of the assembly.

Weir beforehand advised Fox Information that “there has by no means been an try to silence Mr. Story.” She famous that, as per regular process, Story wrote on a card indicating what he would say on the assembly, and he wrote that “in contrast to the board, residents will not be required to talk on objects on the agenda,” thus indicating that “he was planning to talk on a subject not listed for the assembly,” Weir mentioned. 

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, a spokeswoman for the varsity district, mentioned, “At no time have been audio system not allowed to talk in accordance with state regulation and board coverage at a Spherical Rock ISD board assembly.”

Clark referenced a Sept. 14, 2021, faculty board assembly wherein RRISD solely arrange 18 chairs in a room that accommodates 300 folks and prevented members of the general public from coming into. “These actions gave the impression to be an effort to intimidate dad and mom and management the optics by arbitrarily proscribing the capability of fogeys and neighborhood members allowed within the boardroom,” Clark mentioned. He spoke up at that assembly, was eliminated by police, and was arrested three days later.

Spherical Rock ISD faculty board seating
(Spherical Rock ISD, Jeremy Story)

“Mr. Clark got here into the board room after seating capability limits had been met, and was escorted out after he continued to shout at board members and different attendees, interrupting the board’s dialogue and a public speaker whose flip it was to deal with the board,” Weir beforehand advised Fox Information concerning the incident. 

LaCoste-Caputo famous that the district had an overflow room the place members of the general public may watch the proceedings on a display screen.

The Spherical Rock faculty district has its personal police power, separate from state and native forces, below the superintendent. Whereas the Williamson County Sheriff’s Workplace carried out the arrests, a member of that police power filed the affidavits for the arrests of Story and Clark.