After postponing an initial vote to suspend two athletic coaches without pay, the Odem-Edroy ISD Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to terminate their contracts.
According to Sheriff Oscar Rivera, on Dec. 9, 19-year-old Christopher Jacob Soto assaulted an Odem-Edroy ISD juvenile student on an Odem-Edroy ISD school bus while returning from a basketball game in Hebbronville.
The meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 14, included an agenda item to potentially place coaches Cristian Torres and Arnold Maldonado on unpaid leave pending an investigation into the December incident.
Tuesday’s meeting agenda was changed to consider terminating both coaches’ probationary contracts.
During public comment, Odem resident Robert Hunter spoke in support of the coaches.
“The corrective action needs to start with the parents and their responsibilities to their children,” Hunter told the board and those in attendance. “It is certainly not the responsibility of the educators and coaches to raise and babysit these kids.”
Hunter continued, “Firing these highly qualified coaches in a district where some coaches don’t even have a degree is not the solution to the problem, but more of a feel-good moment for the administrators. It is a quick reaction, hoping to take the heat off the school district.”
After just under an hour in executive session, the board returned and voted 5-2 to terminate both coaches contracts effective immediately. Board members Allen Beyer and Anthony Martinez voted against the terminations.
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On Tuesday, Superintendent Yolanda Carr sent KRIS 6's public information request to the Office of the Attorney General for a ruling.
KRIS 6 News had made multiple requests for information about the employment status of three coaches who were present on the bus during the alleged December 9 incident.
Since the alleged incident, two parents KRIS 6 News spoke with expressed frustration about how school officials characterized the incident and the response of the three coaches who were present on the bus.
According to one parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, "the older student (Soto) grabbed my son, and I guess kind of started dry humping him." The parent said her son began kicking before the bus driver turned on the lights. According to the parent, no coaches got up and only told the students to "settle down."
"When I talked to the principal last week, she said, 'Well, you know the way the boys discussed it, it seemed to just be horse playing that got out of hand,'" the parent told KRIS 6 News. "I can understand them wrestling or, you know, on the floor, but it's beyond out of hand when there's private parts of your body being touched or you being grabbed in a sexual way."
"That's not out of hand, that's just disgusting," the parent said.
The parent also told KRIS 6 News: "The fact that the coaches didn't even react at all, this school is notorious for letting things get brushed under the rug because of who you know, and if you're not related to somebody in the school, then they don't do anything."
When KRIS 6 News previously requested information, Superintendent Carr responded: "The District is in receipt of your written request. Please note that under the Texas Government Code, the request must ask for records or information already in existence. The Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to answer questions."
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