Disability Rights Texas outlines next steps after judge orders Klein ISD to allow monitoring access

KLEIN, Texas - Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) says it plans to enter Klein ISD schools and speak with students and staff after a federal judge ruled the district violated federal law by restricting the organization’s monitoring access.

The judgment, signed Sept. 28 by U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett, places the district under a permanent injunction requiring reasonable, unaccompanied monitoring access under court-ordered protocols, including opportunities to communicate privately with students with disabilities.

Speaking with FOX 26, Shiloh Carter, senior litigation attorney for Disability Rights Texas, outlined what advocates intend to do with that access and the concerns that led to the lawsuit.

What prompted the lawsuit?

The backstory:

Disability Rights Texas is the state’s federally designated protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities. Carter said its work includes routinely monitoring facilities where people with disabilities receive services.

In 2023, Carter said, the organization began receiving concerns from Klein ISD parents and staff about district programs.

Carter said advocates tried to explain their federal monitoring authority to district officials and provided case law supporting that access. But she said they repeatedly encountered restrictions.

When advocates attempted to monitor Benfer Elementary, district law enforcement issued criminal trespass warnings, Carter said. The organization then pursued legal action.

FOX 26 reported on the dispute in August, when DRTx’s lawsuit remained pending. At the time, the district defended its visitor requirements as necessary to maintain campus security and protect student privacy.

What did the judge decide?

Big picture view:

The court found that denying immediate, reasonable, unaccompanied monitoring access, including private communications, violated federal protection and advocacy laws.

The judgment also bars enforcement of district policies to the extent they condition or deny that access.

The court entered judgment in DRTx’s favor on claims against Superintendent Jenny McGown and school board President Cathy Arellano in their official capacities. The claim against McGown in her individual capacity was dismissed with prejudice.

The injunction governs monitoring access. It does not establish that a particular student experienced abuse or neglect.

What happens next?

What they're saying:

Carter said DRTx advocates will go into schools and speak with students and staff who want to talk with them. She said information shared with the organization is confidential.

Under the court-ordered protocols, advocates can monitor campus areas used by or accessible to students with disabilities and observe classroom activities while minimizing disruption to instruction and services.

Students may decline or end an interview.

Standard check-in and identification requirements remain in place. The protocols also require written notice and an initial campus tour process for the first monitoring visit to a campus each school year. Subsequent monitoring visits generally do not require advance notice.

District escorts are limited to helping advocates move between locations. Once advocates arrive, escorts must leave the immediate area as specified by the order. Teachers and other employees assigned to classrooms or service areas may remain to carry out their duties.

The order includes limited provisions addressing temporary delays in access to individual students because of certain programming, treatment or immediate safety circumstances.

Protections for students, families and employees

Why you should care:

The injunction prohibits retaliation against anyone who communicates with DRTx or provides information to the organization.

It also prohibits district actions or practices that discourage people from voluntarily speaking with advocates or reporting concerns.

District employees cannot initiate questioning or follow-up conversations with students, parents or staff about their communications with DRTx or the fact of its monitoring. If a parent or student initiates questions, district personnel may provide DRTx’s contact information and a general notice.

The judgment required Klein ISD to provide a copy of the order to every campus principal and its police chief within 14 days. They must also be told that the September 2023 trespass warnings do not prevent access required by the court.

The district says its principals and police chief have been informed.

The court retains authority to enforce, interpret or modify the injunction.

How is Klein ISD responding?

The other side:

Klein ISD maintains that the dispute concerned how visits would occur while protecting student safety and privacy.

The district says it helped develop the monitoring protocols incorporated into the judgment and will work with DRTx under those terms. However, it continues to express concerns about advocates speaking privately with students with disabilities without district monitoring or prior parental consent.

Klein ISD’s full statement

Klein ISD has always welcomed visitors to our schools, including DRTx. The issue for Klein ISD has never been whether DRTx could visit our schools, but how those visits would occur while honoring the district’s responsibility to maintain campus security and protect student safety and privacy.

Accordingly, each time there was a decision regarding DRTx access to our facilities, it was about nothing more than the District’s serious commitment to student safety and privacy, as DRTx refused to comply with established visitor protocols that apply to all visitors to our schools, including other agencies that enter district facilities for a variety of purposes. DRTx’s unwillingness to comply with these basic safety protocols understandably concerned both district and campus leadership, as we know our students, staff, and parents depend on us to ensure all visitors are appropriately screened and escorted, especially when engaging with children without parents’ knowledge or prior consent.

After DRTx sued Klein ISD for standing firm on established safety protocols designed to protect the safety, security, and privacy of our students and staff, Klein ISD continued to try to work directly with DRTx while the lawsuit proceeded through the court system. This resulted in the development of the "KISD-DRTx Monitoring Access Protocols," which were authored largely by the district and have now been agreed to by DRTx and ordered by the court.

Although we continue to have concerns with the court’s order to allow DRTx to visit with students with disabilities privately and unmonitored by Klein ISD without prior parental consent, with the lawsuit involving DRTx and visitation to our schools now resolved, principals and the Chief of Police have been informed, and we will work with DRTx under these established visitor protocols.

The bottom line is that we expect every individual entering a Klein ISD school, regardless of the purpose of the visit, to follow established visitor and safety protocols. We take that responsibility seriously and will always stand firm in ensuring the safety and security of the students and staff entrusted to our care.

Harris CountyNewsTop StoriesEducation