Father of special needs student ousted from Carroll board after civil rights complaint
The father of a special education student whose injuries while at school led to a civil rights complaint said he was ousted from the Carroll Education Foundation board on Thursday night.
Ed Hernandez, who served on the board for three years, said there was a split vote to remove him from the board, and that he was forced to step down because of his wife’s interview with a TV station over a federal civil rights complaint that was filed last year with the Department of Education concerning the Carroll school district’s handling of his son, PJ, who is nonverbal and uses a walker.
“I’m disappointed with the Carroll Education Foundation,” he said.
“Like everything else, it’s allowing politicization. I’m really heartbroken that this organization that I cared a lot about decided to kick me out over an interview my wife did about the OCR (Office of Civil Rights) complaint.”
Kali Sommer, who chairs the Carroll Education Foundation (CEF), did not return email and voicemail messages seeking comment.
The Complaint
According to an email to the Star-Telegram from Debra Edmondson, a Southlake attorney who is representing Ed Hernandez, his son was injured twice while at school, in September 2020 at Walnut Grove Elementary and in 2021 at Durham Intermediate.
Edmondson wrote that while PJ was at Walnut Grove Elementary, he suffered two broken bones when he injured his hand after he ran his walker into a metal fire door frame. The email also stated that the school district “attempted to cover up the incident” by presenting a falsified report.
Edmondson also stated that in 2021, PJ was injured at Durham Intermediate due to neglect and the former principal retaliated by reporting Hernandez and his wife, Jennifer Schutter, to Child Protective Services for truancy. However, Hernandez said their son had to go to therapy twice a week.
The principal’s retaliation was the “genesis” of the civil rights complaint, Edmondson wrote.
Hernandez said he met with the vice chair of the Carroll Education Foundation (CEF) on Sept. 11, and was asked to resign. Hernandez said he refused to do so.
But on Thursday night, Hernandez said he attended the meeting with Edmondson where he explained that his wife’s interview and social media posts had nothing to do with his serving on the CEF board.
Schutter said that what happened to her husband was “sickening.”
‘None of the issues they brought up had anything to do with my husband,” she said. “My posts were about supporting the LGBTQ community and children with disabilities.”
Hernandez said that he was asked to leave the room when the board voted to remove him.
He described how Southlake police officers were in the hallway and board room, which had not been the case before the meeting where he was asked to step down.
“I’m evaluating my legal options for discrimination. The police were at the meeting,” Hernandez said. “You talk about what it’s like being a minority in this incredibly racist town.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 5:54 PM.