Twice reprimanded trustee sues SCUCISD, seeking censure reversal

Matthew Short, a Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District trustee, is suing his board president and the school system he governs over board-imposed sanctions that have kept him from visiting campuses and accessing district funds.

The lawsuit, filed in Guadalupe County court on June 18, seeks to reverse sanctions trustees voted to levy against Short in February. Short is representing himself and does not have an attorney.

"What I want is simple," Short said in an email Thursday. "I want a ruling that says a Board cannot do indirectly what it is forbidden from doing directly. I want a ruling that says elected officials do not get to create punishment first and search for justification later."

Short is seeking $1 in damages. He said he filed the suit because he wants to fully return to his role as an elected trustee.

In his legal filings, Short contends that restrictions placed on him directly affect his ability to serve as a board member. The lawsuit follows two public reprimands from fellow trustees issued in February and May, respectively. The first barred him from using district funds and accessing campuses indefinitely. The second was symbolic.

Short wrote in the suit that after the first censure, he was also barred from accessing district records, which he said prevents him from serving as a board member.

"I am not standing here claiming I have done everything perfectly. I have made mistakes. I have been new to this role. I have had moments where I could have handled things better," Short said in a statement. "I have learned difficult lessons in a very public way. I own what is mine. But owning my mistakes does not mean accepting a false narrative. It does not mean surrendering my office."

In February, the board voted 6-1 to bar Short indefinitely from accessing district funds and property after KSAT-TV and the Express-News reported allegations that he had left several children unattended at a Judson ISD elementary school where he worked as a teacher. He was put on leave, set to be fired and subsequently resigned.

Before the February board meeting, Board President Letticia Sever asked Short to resign because of his employment dispute with neighboring Judson ISD, which she said she was a distraction from the district's work. He did not, and trustees censured him. In May, Short was censured again after he allegedly used the district's address to send cease-and-desist letters demanding that community members stop criticizing him.

Sever declined to comment. The district did not comment directly on the suit.

"Our focus is on providing a high-quality education for the students we serve," SCUCISD spokesperson Deanna Jackson said. "These proceedings are a matter of public record, and we believe they speak for themselves."

An initial hearing for the suit was scheduled for Wednesday but has been canceled, with no new date posted.

"The voters of this community elected me. I took the same oath every trustee at that table took," Short said in a statement. "I took an oath to serve students, families, staff, and taxpayers. From the first day I assumed my role on the Board, I understood that I was entering that room as something different. I was not only a trustee. I was the only active educator sitting at that table."

Short was elected to the SCUCISD board in November 2025 after running unopposed. The same day he was sworn in, he was accused by Judson police and campus staff of leaving several students he was tutoring unattended at Judson's Salinas Elementary School, where he worked as a teacher at the time.

Judson ISD placed Short on leave after the incident. District police investigated the allegations and referred the matter to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office. The district attorney determined that the matter did not warrant bringing charges against Short.

Still, Judson trustees unanimously voted to terminate Short for "good cause" in January. Short resigned in April, waiving his right to appeal the termination.

Other censures

One of the Judson trustees who voted to fire Short is making a similar argument against board-imposed sanctions in a separate Bexar County lawsuit.

José Macias, Judson ISD's longest-serving board member, has been censured multiple times following months of board infighting. His fellow trustees allege Macias intimidated other board members to influence votes, shared social media posts in violation of governing rules, disclosed confidential information and allowed a TV station onto campus without proper vetting.

Macias' censure barred him from district property except the boardroom for six months and from official district travel for a year. He sued the district in May, seeking $1 million in damages and was briefly granted access to the campuses through an injunction.

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Judson ISD then moved the case to federal court, and earlier this week, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying the nearly 200-page legal argument he filed was too long. Macias can proceed with the lawsuit if he re-files his arguments in fewer than 30 pages.

Short and Macias are not the only board members locally who have been publicly reprimanded by their colleagues. Trustees in San Antonio ISD and Edgewood ISD also have censured board members in recent years - though neither reprimand resulted in a lawsuit.

Judson and SCUC ISDs are the fourth- and sixth-largest school systems in the region, respectively. The districts serve the northeast outskirts and suburban communities of the San Antonio area.

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