Little Elm launches website to ‘clarify distortions, misinformation’ about school protest
The Town of Little Elm has created a fact-checking website to answer community questions regarding the demonstration at Little Elm High School on Nov. 19, which resulted in the arrest of four students and the use of a taser and pepper spray.
The website, called Little Elm Facts, states that its purpose is to “address and clarify distortions, misinformation, and falsehoods” surrounding the incident.
“It’s a best practice in the release of public information to provide verified and accurate information, particularly when incorrect information is circulating widely,” the Little Elm Facts homepage states.
Little Elm Mayor Curtis Cornelious and Little Elm ISD Superintendent Daniel Gallagher made a joint video days after the protest saying video of the incident shared by students “lack[ed] context necessary to understand everything that’s happening in the moment.”
Town officials’ answers to several questions have been published on Little Elm Facts, ranging from the reason for the Friday protest, which was about the handling of a student’s sexual assault report, to methods police used leading up to the arrest of four students.
According to the website, Little Elm Police Chief Rodney Harrison will have the actions of the officers who used force against students reviewed by an outside use-of-force expert. The expert was not named, but the review will apply standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court, the website states.
Cornelious said that two students assaulted police officers and a third tried to interfere with an arrest, which caused the teen to be pepper-sprayed and later tased “when the student would not stop advancing toward the officer.” A fourth student reportedly spit on an officer.
In the initial report by the Star-Telegram, a spokesperson with the Little Elm Police Department said several students were pepper sprayed.
The school district plans to hold a listening session at the end of the month regarding its policies for reporting and investigating sexual harassment. In the video message Monday, Gallagher said the district also will conduct a review of the Friday protest and a follow-up investigation into the alleged sexual misconduct incident that triggered the protest.
