Keller school board member calls latest legal move a ‘publicity stunt,’ waste of money
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Keller school district kills plans for split
The Keller school district has abandoned plans to split the district, citing high costs of dividing district debt.
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A Keller school board member has criticized the latest legal move by a Fort Worth homeowners association, calling it a publicity stunt and waste of taxpayers’ money.
On Thursday, the Heritage Legal Task Force amended its lawsuit to demand the removal of board members Chris Coker, Heather Washington, John Birt, Micah Young and board president Charles Randklev for “incompetency and official misconduct.”
The task force joined a resident’s lawsuit March 3, alleging the five board members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act when they discussed a plan to split the Keller school district.
In a Facebook post on March 28, Coker wrote the move was a self-serving publicity stunt by Cary Moon, the former Fort Worth city council member who is chairman of the legal task force representing the Heritage Homeowners Association. He said the lawsuit has burdened the district with legal expenses and distractions.
“Meanwhile, the attorneys behind this baseless lawsuit are profiting at the expense of Keller ISD taxpayers, forcing the district to waste valuable resources defending itself against meritless claims,” Coker wrote. “These funds should be used to support our students, teachers, and classrooms—not to fuel a politically motivated legal battle.”
The plan to detach part of the district along U.S. 377 was abandoned on March 14 due to the “tens of millions” it would cost to distribute bond debt.
Moon said he’s not ignoring what Coker said, but he’s also not involving himself with it.
“I have not really been paying much attention to social media narratives out there, I’ve just been focused on the legal issues, (Texas Open Meetings Act) violations and decisions made,” Moon said. “I’m really just trying to be focused on the community and how people feel and what they trust and see from our board.”
Moon said his goal is to represent the concerns of his neighbors, pointing to the $70,000 that has been raised to fulfill the task at hand.
Many of the comments responding to Coker’s post were critical of his concern for how district money would be spent for the impending lawsuit.
“Resign then with your buddies,” Christine Haley wrote, criticizing the money the board has spent on its attorney, Tim Davis, and its membership with Texans for Excellence in Education, a 2-year-old nonprofit that is an alternative to the Texas Association of School Boards. “If you want to rebuild any trust the community has with the school, resign.”
A few comments though agreed that the lawsuit is frivolous.
“The Heritage Legal Task Force’s lawsuit is a blatant attack on a conservative Keller ISD board that dared to remove leftist dogma from classrooms,” another posted. “This isn’t about accountability — it’s a politically charged tantrum aimed at punishing a board for rejecting progressive ideology. Chairman Cary Moon and his legal cronies are profiting off this stunt, bleeding taxpayer funds that should support students, not their egos.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 5:12 PM.
