The rejection is one of the conditions agreed to as part of a settlement agreement in litigation filed in September 2020. The lawsuit, filed by plaintiff Kristin Garcia, alleged some Carroll ISD board members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act as part of deliberations concerning the CCAP. She asked that the CCAP be declared void because of the violation.
The school board approved the settlement on December 13.
The settlement also calls for the district diversity council to be disbanded and agrees to particular procedures concerning district diversity and inclusion committees for the next three years.
Each member of the Carroll ISD will appoint two members, the superintendent will appoint three members, and two members of the superintendent’s cabinet will be members of any such committee.
Additionally, Carroll ISD agreed to pay attorney’s fees totaling $134,000.
Garcia told The Texan that she was relieved the lawsuit is over, although she has no regrets if filing it. “It was worthwhile and the right thing to do,” she added.
Garcia said she is satisfied with the settlement outcome, explaining that she didn’t believe the CCAP reflected the will of the community.
As far as future violations of the Open Meetings Act, Garcia speculated, “I don’t think we will end up in that situation again. We have a new board and members who are qualified and committed and won’t get wrapped up in all of this.”
Since the proposal of the CCAP, three new board members, Hannah Smith, Cameron Bryan, and Andrew Yeager, all of whom opposed the CCAP, have been successfully elected to the Carroll ISD school board by large margins.
Tim O’Hare, current candidate for Tarrant County judge and founder of the Southlake Families PAC, a group formed to defeat the CCAP and elect conservative candidates to the school board, was pleased to see the settlement reached.
“This is a clear win for our kids, our community, and America. Southlake is known for excellence, and we’ve set a standard here that other communities are following by standing up and fighting,” he told The Texan.
The CCAP was criticized for containing policies related to critical race theory and its associated teachings. According to O’Hare, it would have tracked “microaggressions” committed by children, even though the definition of microaggressions was quite broad.
Another objection Southlake Families voiced was that they believed the CCAP shifted the focus in Carroll ISD to race.
“We don’t have a racism problem in Southlake. If children behave improperly, then they should be disciplined,” O’Hare stated.
It also required social justice training for students as a condition for graduation, he said.
O’Hare doesn’t expect the CCAP to be resurrected any time soon, but he admonished families to “remain awake and ever vigilant.”
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Kim Roberts
Kim Roberts is a regional reporter for the Texan in the DFW metroplex area where she has lived for over twenty years. She has a Juris Doctor from Baylor University Law School and a Bachelor's in government from Angelo State University. In her free time, Kim home schools her daughter and coaches high school extemporaneous speaking and apologetics. She has been happily married to her husband for 23 years, has three wonderful children, and two dogs.
