Millsap ISD superintendent, teachers arrested in abuse of special-needs students
The superintendent of the Millsap school district and two educators were arrested Thursday after the teachers were caught on video abusing a special-needs student, authorities told the Weatherford Democrat.
The student's mother shared the abuse allegations in a video posted to Facebook on March 10, the Star-Telegram previously reported. The video has since been made unavailable.
The video shows one special education teacher at Millsap Elementary School attempting to slap the 10-year-old boy across the face and another teacher throwing an object at him, according to the parent.
The superintendent, 53-year-old Edie Martin, faces a felony charge of failure to report with the intent to conceal, according to jail records. The child's mother, Carissa Kozak Cornelius, told the Star-Telegram that the incident in her son Alex's classroom happened on Feb. 18, but Martin didn't notify her until Feb. 28 and even then didn't tell her that the incident involved her son. The mother later obtained the video recorded by a teaching assistant, she said.
One of the educators, 44-year-old Jennifer Dale, is charged with official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor, according to the Parker County Sheriff's Office. The other educator, 25-year-old Paxton Bean, is charged with official oppression and injury to a child with intentional bodily injury, a third-degree felony.
Parker County Today reported that arrest warrant affidavits accuse Bean and Paxton of abusing two additional students.
Jail records show that all three women were released on bond.
A school board meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning, March 21 to consider a 'separation agreement' with the superintendent, according to an agenda on the school district's website. The district has said that the other educators involved were placed on leave during the investigation and are no longer employed by Millsap ISD.
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Millsap is a small North Texas town about 15 miles west of Weatherford.
Cornelius told the Star-Telegram that her first contact with law enforcement was when she reached out herself to the Parker County Sheriff's Office and Child Protective Services once she obtained the video and learned more about what happened with her son. Cornelius said that the superintendent later informed her of other prior incidents including her son — who has autism and is nonverbal — getting a shower without her permission, getting called vulgar names by staff and teachers, and receiving other inappropriate comments.
She pulled her son out of the school and said she plans to homeschool him.
In a statement about the arrests, Texas Rep. Mike Olcott said that Parker County Sheriff Russ Authier informed him there are three victims in the case.
'I am especially disturbed that these individuals who were hired specifically to care for students in the special education program would subject such vulnerable children to this type of abuse,' Olcott said. '... I expect the Board to fully consider what took place and discover if any other faculty members participated in or attempted to cover up the abuse that took place. Moreover, if the teachers are convicted of abusing these children, they should never be permitted to teach in a school again.'
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