EXCLUSIVE: Detroit ISD Superintendent, Board President under separate investigations

Photos: Submitted

Update: Since posting this story on Jan. 28, 2022, the Red River County Sheriff’s Office has decided they will not move forward with charges against Doug Miller – the case is officially closed. We are still awaiting the result of the investigation against Miller from the TEA. 

Detroit ISD received our open records request on Jan. 26, 2022, and has until Feb. 11, 2022, to respond to the numerous grievances against the district and Superintendent Thompson. We are awaiting their response. As of press time, the school board meeting agenda for Feb. 15, 2022, has not been posted, so it is unclear if the incident with George will be discussed or any action taken.

This is an ongoing investigation and we will keep our readers updated.

Two separate investigations are underway involving both Detroit ISD’s Superintendent Kathie Thompson and Detroit ISD’s Board President Doug Miller.

Allegations have been pouring in regarding Thompson and her alleged role in several harassment claims against the district by various staff members. According to our source, several of these staff members have retained Brandon S. Shelby of Shelby Law in Sherman. We reached out to Shelby and have not received a response.

At the board meeting on Jan. 10, the district hired attorney Blake Armstrong of Birdsong and Armstrong, PC, in Tyler, to represent the district in a special case.

Miller, the school board president, was allegedly involved in a physical fight with the district’s maintenance director, Bobby George, and his 15-year-old son, as documented in the minutes of the board meeting from Jan. 10. According to the minutes, the school board deliberated “an incident involving the board president and maintenance and transportation director.” In addition, the board deliberated incidents “concerning complaints against the superintendent,” as well.

The fight allegedly happened on New Year’s Eve at a neighbor’s house. According to a complaint filed with the Texas Education Agency, Miller hit George from behind and jumped on top of him, pinning him to the ground, when he began to beat him.

According to the TEA complaint, George’s 15-year-old son jumped in and pulled Miller off George when Miller allegedly began pulling the boy’s hair in retaliation. George said he then collected his children and left the scene before calling the Red River County Sheriff’s Office to file a report against Miller for assault and child endangerment.

According to the TEA, Superintendents or directors are required to report abused or any unlawful act with a student or minor to the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) under TEC §21.006 and Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §249.14., and any educator or staff member is required by law to report such an incident involving a child within seven business days of the incident. According to records with the TEA, neither Thompson nor Miller reported it – only George.

Although these incidents were brought up during the Jan. 10 board meeting, no one is talking.

We reached out to Thompson and she refused to comment. We also reached out to Miller for comment, and he refused to do so. We called Armstrong to get his perspective on these complaints, but he said “The complaints against the district are confidential and I am not legally allowed to comment.”

In addition, we have tried on three separate occasions to drop off an open records request with the sheriff’s office and the individual who handles the requests has not been available.  We also filed an open records request with the district on Wednesday, Jan. 26.  According to state law, the district has five business days to respond to our request.

George has contacted the Red River County Sheriff’s Office for a copy of his complaint and has stated the sheriff’s office said it was still an ongoing investigation.

We called District Attorney Val Varley to see if charges will be pursued against Miller and Thompson, but received no response.

We will update our readers when the Red River County Sheriff’s Office responds to our open records request, as well as the district.

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eExtra News Publisher Toni McDowra contributed to this report.