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The division and acrimony between two factions of the Judson Independent School District Board of Trustees reached a new height Saturday, when trustees voted to launch dueling investigations into two of their own.
The board voted to hire two separate law firms, one to investigate Board President Monica Ryan, the other to investigate trustee José Macias Jr.
The decision to spend money on those investigations comes as the district faces budget cuts, including school closures, in order to offset a roughly $35 million deficit.
Each faction of the board initiated the investigation into the trustee on the other side. Macias and trustee Suzanne Kenoyer added Ryan’s investigation to the board agenda. The overall agenda is the purview of the board president and the district administration.
The allegations behind both investigations stem from the recent vote to terminate Superintendent Milton Fields’ contract.
Macias and Kenoyer both raised concerns that Ryan may have violated the Open Meeting Act while preparing to investigate Fields. Macias also vowed to investigate allegations against Ryan made during public comments. Lisa Butler, the woman who made the allegations, later filed a civil lawsuit against Ryan, claiming that Ryan used her position on the board to ensure her daughter had access to a specific class. Ryan has firmly denied those allegations.
Board documents posted to support the investigation into Macias include screenshots of Macias’ Facebook page, which criticize the steps taken to fire the superintendent.
A separate board agenda item listed unspecified employee complaints against Macias.
Trustees voted unanimously to direct the interim superintendent to investigate those complaints.
“For the record, I think it’s one complaint,” Macias said.
“No, sir, two so far,” Ryan replied.
Trustees also voted unanimously to “initiate an investigation on abuse of board authority and employee retaliation by Board President Monica Ryan.”
Kenoyer, Macias, and Stanford voted against the second investigation into Macias, which alleged violations of the Texas Penal Code for coercion of a public servant, obstruction or retaliation, and abuse of official capacity.
Macias asked that the discussion about his investigation be conducted in open session.
“I do believe this is another example of retaliation. Most of the complaints that are filed here were done after I asked for an investigation of Monica Ryan,” Macias said. “Once I put an item on the agenda to have her investigated, she conveniently looked for things, and most of the items that she looked at were on social media, so she's citing social media posts for coercion and obstruction and all these other things that I think are total nonsense, 100% total nonsense.”
“My social media posts are tied to freedom of speech,” Macias added. “I'm allowed to say what I feel is in my heart as I represent my community.”
Kenoyer also said she thought the motion to investigate Macias was retaliatory.
“I find it real interesting that all of these allegations are leveled at Mr. Macias when I too called out the potential violation of Open Meetings Act at the same meeting,” Kenoyer said. “And so, it does tend to make me believe that the obvious friction between Mr. Macias and Ms. Ryan has led to this particular action.”
Laura Stanford said the focus on Macias’ Facebook posts represented a departure from the board’s standard practice.
“We went through years of tussling over inflammatory Facebook posts. And in that course of the years, there were a couple times when different members brought up the possibility of censuring Ms. Ryan for the inflammatory Facebook posts that she would make,” Stanford said. “I was never in favor of censuring Ms. Ryan for her Facebook posts, because that's basically freedom of speech. I did ask, and several of us asked her, to tone it down.”
Board Vice President Amanda Poteet interjected, stating that Stanford’s comments were off topic.
“I'm saying if we're going to take an action against Mr. Macias for Facebook posts, then we have to be consistent. We never did that in the past. And even though one created a death threat that actually came to the district,” Stanford said.
Before making the motion to investigate Macias, Ryan said she wasn’t the only one who raised concerns.
“After multiple complaints from my colleagues regarding these violations of law, not just me, and not just social media. There are other documents that will be provided to the investigator. I move that the board initiate an investigation regarding violations by trustee José Macias,” Ryan said.
The board voted to hire the law firm Walsh Gallegos to investigate Ryan and the law firm JCA Law to investigate Macias. They also voted unanimously to direct their public information requests to law firms.
Judson faces a limited timeline to eliminate its longstanding budget deficit before the district’s fund balance dips below the recommended amount. Exactly how tight that deadline is depends on who you ask. District administrators have recommended completely eliminating the deficit within the next two years. Ryan has indicated she’d be more comfortable eliminating it entirely by next year.
