Judge dismisses Judson ISD trustee's lawsuit against his own district as too long
A Judson Independent School District trustee plans to double down on a lawsuit against the district he serves after a federal judge on Monday dismissed the complaint for being too long.
In mid-June, trustee José Macias filed a 198-page suit against Judson ISD in federal court. The filing included more than 70 additional pages of supporting documentation.
In the complaint, Macias demanded that Judson ISD drop the censure and affiliated sanctions fellow trustees issued against him. He also asked the district to pay him $1 million in damages.
Court records show that U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia dismissed the complaint without prejudice, which means Macias and his lawyer have a second chance to amend the filing. The order gave them 14 days to re-file the suit - at under 30 pages.
Judson's four-member board majority censured Macias in April and accused him of intimidating his fellow trustees, sharing posts online that violated board governance rules and disclosing confidential information from closed session. The censure included sanctions that barred him from district property outside the boardroom for six months and prohibited him from accessing JISD funds for a year. He has since been censured two more times for the same reasons and for violating the sanctions.
The nearly-200-page filing demands compensation for damages Macias said he experienced from alleged "unconstitutional conduct and unlawful governmental actions." He claimed the censure damaged his reputation and caused him mental anguish and humiliation.
Board President Monica Ryan posted online after Garcia's dismissal, celebrating the "small win." She later shared that she believes the ruling exposes the "wasteful nature" of the lawsuit. She said the community expects and its students deserve a board that is focused on providing the best possible education for every child in Judson ISD.
The fourth-largest district in Bexar County, Judson ISD serves over 20,000 students across nearly 30 schools.
"Judson ISD continues to spend valuable time, taxpayer dollars, and public resources responding to a lawsuit that the court found did not even meet the basic pleading requirements for a court case like this," she said. "I hope this serves as a turning point for Trustee Macias. The time for personal disputes and political distractions is over."
'What they took away from me'
After originally filing a more than 50-page lawsuit in Bexar County court in early May, Macias said he would drop the suit and his monetary demands if the board retracted its sanctions against him. When the board instead moved the lawsuit to federal court later that month, he planned to keep fighting for his demands, Macias said Wednesday. He confirmed he planned to re-file the suit in an abbreviated form.
Still awaiting his day in court, Macias said the monetary demands are not the main driver of the lawsuit. He instead seeks to hold the board majority accountable for its actions. Because of the sanctions against him, he could not attend any Judson graduation events this spring.
"How are they going to pay for what they took away from me, which were the graduations. It meant a great deal to me, and they robbed me of that," Macias said Wednesday.
Winning the lawsuit will send a message to other board majorities across the state that they cannot silence trustees with dissenting opinions, he said.
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While fighting the lawsuit, the district is under investigation by the Texas Education Agency for alleged board governance failures and claims that former Superintendent Milton Fields failed to report child abuse.
Board infighting between the four-member board majority including Ryan and the minority faction of three, which includes Macias, has plagued the district for months as trustees investigated - and then fired - the former superintendent. Since Fields' ousting, trustees have hired four different individuals as interim superintendent.
Judson ISD trustees announced the district's newest interim superintendent, education consultant Ann Dixon, after their previous interim leader Robert Jaklich left his post to retire at the end of June.
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