A Southlake mom accuses school board president, other trustees of violating the law
A parent is suing the Carroll school board president and other school board members, alleging that they violated the Open Meetings Act by texting about the district’s diversity plan.
Kristin Garcia filed the lawsuit Thursday in a Tarrant County district court.
The lawsuit accuses school board president Michelle Moore and trustees Sheri Mills, Danny Gilpin, Todd Carlton and David Almand of discussing the plan behind closed doors through text messages.
The suit describes a “disturbing series of text messages” from Moore which were sent to a “walking quorum” of the board discussing how to proceed with the district’s Cultural Competence Action Plan which has yet to be approved.
The plan was the result of meetings with the district’s diversity council after videos surfaced of Carroll High School students repeating a racial slur.
Last month, the school board voted to receive the plan, and indicated that more discussion was needed.
The suit accuses Moore of leaving trustees Eric Lannen and Matt Bryant out of the text message discussions about the plan.
Garcia also alleges that Gilpin talked about the “barrage of emails” from people opposed to the plan and said there was no way to vote during the Aug. 3 meeting.
Michelle said in a text message to the Star-Telegram that “I am not aware of any lawsuit filed against me or other trustees, so am unable to provide a comment at this time.”
She previously said that she does not believe that she violated the Open Meetings law when asked about a petition calling for her to resign.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 4:23 PM.