The State Board for Educator Certification has disciplined an Assistant Superintendent at Granbury Independent School District (ISD), Jimmy Dawson, for the usage of skilled privileges for private achieve. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) introduced an investigation into Dawson after a WFAA investigation alleged that he used the district plane for private use. In November, WFAA reported that Dawson used the plane to fly to Abilene to consult with his daughter for her birthday and that he took his spouse, every other district worker, at the travel.
When wondered concerning the allegations, Dawson denied the usage of the plane for private trips and maintained that the flight to Abilene and others adore it had been coaching flights. However, the WFAA investigation precipitated the TEA to open an inquiry, leading to Dawson receiving an inscribed reprimand from the State Board of Educator Certification. This penalty is an enduring mark on his certificates and serves as an important disciplinary motion for an educator.
Watt Lesley Black Jr., a predominant and college board member with 30 years of revel in in training, teaches ethics and regulation at SMU. He when put next Dawson’s movements to a bus driving force the usage of a district bus for a holiday and added that an inscribed reprimand is a serious penalty for moral violations which might be regarded as critical.
After WFAA’s preliminary record, the district paid a regulation company over $20,000 for a overview of the district plane, which was once first of all designed to assist educate scholars aviation. The investigation discovered that Dawson had flown the plane thrice with scholars and 7 occasions together with his family, apparently the usage of skilled privileges for private achieve. Just 64 of the plane’s 136 flights had been indexed as scholar tutorial flights. Additionally, whilst the district owned the plane, neither Dawson nor the district’s different teacher, Mark Kirk, had been authorized by way of the FAA to show scholars methods to fly.
Parents within the district additionally raised considerations a couple of flight to College Station on a weekend when Kirk had flown with scholars at the day of a Texas A&M soccer recreation. The flight is indexed as a “college visit” at the district log, and it is unclear what number of scholars had been accepted to make use of the district plane for campus excursions.
The district apologized for the placement, and the board unanimously voted to promote the plane in January to a California purchaser for $96,000, regardless of the district having first of all purchased it for $42,000 in April 2021 and spending $50,000 on upgrades. The January board assembly famous the higher-than-expected prices of upkeep and hangar apartment charges, in addition to insurance coverage and the chance related to this system. Board member Karen Lowery stated, “What this says to our students, families, and community is that GISD accepts the risk the plane creates because the most we can lose is $100,000, according to the insurance. Every time this plane would take off and land, it created a risk of accident and liability to the district.”
In conclusion, the Granbury ISD has applied new written tips and now makes use of a flight college for its training program. Dawson has since confronted interior disciplinary motion, however the actual main points have now not been made public. The overview performed concluded that Dawson’s movements warranted a written caution, coaching, or a written reprimand and coaching.