Southlake Carroll school district’s diversity plan will be shelved as part of settlement
A split vote from the Southlake Carroll school board to settle a parent’s lawsuit calls for scrapping a proposed diversity plan that was almost two years in the making.
Kristin Garcia filed her lawsuit in September of 2020, alleging that several trustees, including former board president Michelle Moore, violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by sending text messages to discuss the proposed Cultural Competence Action Plan outside of a called meeting. The board voted 4-1, with two members abstaining, to approve the settlement on Dec. 13.
Dusty Fillmore, a Fort Worth attorney who represented Garcia said his client is “thankful” that she was able to reach a resolution with the school district.
“From start to finish, it was about good government,” Fillmore said. “It is wrong for any governmental entity, including a school board to make decisions in secret and to violate the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The settlement also states that in addition to the superintendent’s appointments, trustees would each appoint two members to any future diversity equity and inclusion committee, Fillmore said.
“The point is that any committee that would look in to diversity, equity and inclusion issues would be representative of the board and represent the community,” he said.
The agreement also states that the Carroll school district will pay attorney fees of almost $134,000.
The settlement also states that the employee handbook will be amended to reflect the new state law that prohibits the instruction of components of critical race theory, and it would constitute employee misconduct to potentially violate the law, Filmore said.
The 34-page Cultural Competence Action Plan or CCAP was never approved. A group of parents said it went against their beliefs and their efforts to teach Christian values to their children at home. The parents said the plan promoted reverse racism.
But others said the plan was needed because students of color and those who are LGBTQ were bullied.
The plan came about after videos went viral of students chanting a racial slur.