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A authorized assessment really helpful self-discipline for assistant superintendent Jimmy Dawson, however the board took no motion Monday evening
GRANBURY, Texas — Granbury ISD’s board of trustees voted to sell its private plane following a number of WFAA tales that exposed a district chief repeatedly used the plane for private journeys.
On Monday, the board voted unanimously to sell the plane, saying the prices have been larger than anticipated. The sale comes simply two months after WFAA started reporting on the plane’s misuse.
A WFAA investigation revealed assistant superintendent Jimmy Dawson used the plane for household journeys on a number of totally different holidays or breaks and flew twice as a lot along with his household than he did with college students. Dawson’s spouse can be a district administrator.
The district spent $42,000 to purchase the plane in April of 2021 after which one other $50,000 to replace it, with a purpose of instructing college students about aviation and prepare them to be pilots or higher perceive plane mechanics.
An legal professional assessment of this system stated simply 64 of the plane’s 136 flights have been pupil educational flights.
“A lesson learned I think through this plane experience is that GISD must create written policies before programs are implemented into service and especially when a program involves high value equipment and creates a high risk for the program,” Karen Lowery, a Granbury ISD trustee, stated.
Miles Bradshaw, the legal professional who carried out the district’s assessment of the plane, stated Dawson didn’t violate any coverage as a result of there wasn’t any coverage in place to handle the usage of the plane earlier than WFAA’s story.
“They did not violate any particular law or policy,” Bradshaw stated when he offered his report in December. “I use the phrase ‘gray area’ because that’s what it is.”
Bradshaw stated Dawson’s actions warranted at the very least a written warning and coaching or a written reprimand and coaching, however the district didn’t take any motion on self-discipline Monday evening.
“The attorney firm that was hired to look into the plane circumstance, in my mind, was a clear effort on the part of the school board to provide cover for themselves so that they would not have to hold anybody publicly accountable,” one public speaker stated Monday evening.
An academic ethics knowledgeable WFAA spoke to in contrast Dawson’s actions to a bus driver utilizing a district school bus for household holidays and stated it doubtless violates the state’s ethics coverage.
“To me, we’re very fortunate the plane issue came to our attention before a catastrophic incident occurred and we would have been negatively impacted for years,” Lowery stated.
Dawson was by no means given written permission to fly the plane. The district has since added a brand new coverage for flights even thought the plane is now listed on the market.
Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Glenn declined to reply questions on the board’s December assembly when it acquired the report on the plane, and on Monday a district spokesperson once more stated Glenn wouldn’t be answering any questions.
Neither Dawson nor one other teacher, Mark Kirk, have been licensed to educate college students how to fly, in accordance to the FAA. In the span of 19 months, Dawson flew with college students 3 times and along with his household seven occasions. Kirk flew along with his youngsters regardless that they weren’t district college students.
Kirk additionally flew to College Station with college students on the day of a Texas A&M house sport. The flight is listed as a “college visit” on the district’s log. It’s unclear what number of college students have been allowed to use the district’s plane for campus excursions.
In Monday’s assembly, Lowery outlined flaws inside Bradshaw’s report and in addition famous the $100,000 insurance coverage coverage wouldn’t start to cowl the true price and threat of a crash.
“Basically, what this says so 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,” Lowery stated. “Every time this plane would take off and land it created a risk of accident and liability to the district.”
Bradshaw’s report and presentation in December instructed the district ought to assessment if it wished to proceed proudly owning the plane and that the dearth of insurance policies was an issue.
“Should the school district have had tighter controls that if followed, would have prevented the perceived appearance of impropriety?” Bradshaw wrote. “It is reasonable to answer ‘Yes.’”
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