In case you are running low on things to worry about this semester, never fear. This article is dedicated to the False Claims Act (FCA), another tool the federal government appears happy to point in the direction of public schools.

Collinsville High School baseball coach Derrick Jenkins is being investigated over grooming allegations made against him according to the Collinsville Police Department. The announcement comes after Jenkins was placed on administrative leave in October due to allegations of inappropriate communication with a student. view article

A judge said the university can’t be trusted to enforce a state law that bans overnight “expressive activity,” among other restrictions, in a constitutional way. view article

An athletic trainer with the Center Independent School District has resigned after being arrested for an improper relationship. While Center ISD did not release details about the allegation, Shelby County Jail records show the employee, Christopher Lemoine, is charged with improper relationship between educator/student. view article

The Mansfield ISD teacher who was arrested and fired last week had a sexual relationship with a teenager, Alvarado police said Wednesday. Jared Young, 33, faces charges of child pornography, sexual assault of a child and improper relationship with a student. Police said the student, a 16-year-old girl who attends Alvarado ISD, reported the relationship. view article

Sealy Police arrested 63-year-old Juan Gerardo Perez for Child Grooming, a first-degree felony, on Tuesday. "We were notified of an inappropriate relationship between a student and a teacher, and we began an investigation," Sealy Police Chief Russell Grimes said. "After that investigation and consultation with our district attorney, we obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect." view article

Celina police were called to the high school on Tuesday afternoon, to a report of an employee who "appeared impaired." Following an investigation, police arrested 46-year-old Micheale Clark of Celina. Clark is charged with child endangerment and is currently in the Collin County Jail on a $35,000 bond, court records show. view article

A Celina ISD special education teacher's aide has been arrested Tuesday on accusations of impairment while on campus. The incident makes the third arrest of a district employee in recent weeks, and the sixth employee to be placed on leave. view article

A former instructional aide for Kilgore ISD received 10 years deferred adjucation for having an improper relationship with a student. Kayla Nicole O’Dell, 34, of Gladewater, pleaded guilty in Judge Novy’s courtroom Tuesday morning. view article

5th Circuit will hear arguments in Texas, Louisiana Ten Commandments cases in January  A federal appeals court next year will hear Texas’ arguments against a ruling that blocked nearly a dozen school districts from displaying posters of the Ten Commandments.  The 17 active judges on the U.S. 5th Court of Appeals in January will hear both the Texas case and a similar case happening in Louisiana, which was the first state to pass a requirement to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.  A federal judge in August found Texas’ Ten Commandments law unconstitutional and temporarily blocked it from taking full effect, following an initial lawsuit against 11 school districts. The complaint was brought forth by 16 families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and a coalition of religious freedom organizations. The civil rights groups later sued 14 more districts.  The ruling only applied to the 11 school districts named in the groups’ first lawsuit, though attorneys expressed hope in court that other districts would not implement the law. But those lawyers later told the same court in a legal filing that many districts are implementing the new law or have signaled an intent to do so. view article

More families are suing Celina Independent School District, accusing the district of gross negligence for enabling a middle school coach’s alleged illicit locker room recording of student athletes while the boys were undressed and showering.  The new lawsuit was filed this week by families of three Moore Middle School students who were victimized by their coach William Caleb Elliott.  Caleb Elliott is the 26-year-old son of Celina ISD’s longtime Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Bill Elliott.  The petition describes Caleb Elliott as “a predator enabled by nepotism and willful blindness” and asserts that his father Bill Elliott’s “on-field success” in football “translated into outsized influence within Celina ISD.” view article

In its first term, the Trump administration focused on the southern border as hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many from Central and South America, came seeking asylum. The administration implemented policies such as the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “remain in Mexico” policy, under which more than 70,000 non-Mexican people were forced to wait in Mexico until their asylum cases wound through U.S. immigration courts.  But the second Trump administration has been even more aggressive in clamping down on undocumented immigrants in the nation’s interior, setting a goal for ICE of at least 3,000 arrests a day. The data show that in the first six months of this term, ICE averaged 727 arrests a day, more than doubling the 304 daily arrests under Biden. view article

A $16 million homeless “super hub” that was pulled from two consecutive agendas amid public backlash has now been approved.   The Houston City Council has officially approved a $16 million plan to create a homeless “super hub” east of downtown—despite objections from nearby residents who say City Hall shut them out of the process. view article

Local residents are suing the City of Dallas for enforcing 89 ordinances that the City itself admitted are in violation of the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act and the Texas Constitution, according to allegations from the Texas Public Policy Foundation.  The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (TRCA)—referred to by critics as the “Death Star Bill”—is designed to rein in out-of-control local governments and protect Texans from tyrannical local regulations.  The act—passed in 2023—preempts local governments from adopting, enforcing, or maintaining ordinances related to agriculture, business and commerce, finance, labor, natural resources, occupations, and property. view article

The woman was a teacher at Moore Middle School, the same campus at the center of a case involving a coach recording children in the locker room. view article

A Celina ISD teacher is in jail after police said she was impaired while on the campus of Moore Middle School. She’s the second teacher from the school to face criminal charges this month. view article

A Mansfield ISD teacher was fired this week after his arrest on charges of child pornography, sexual assault of a child and improper relationship with a student. Jared Young, 33, was a science teacher at Legacy High School and a coach of freshman football and basketball teams. view article

The case stems from a coach’s illegal recording of undressed middle school boys in the locker room.   view article

Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into Lorex Technology Inc. over concerns that its products may be tied to the Chinese Communist Party and present a risk to national security.   Paxton’s probe targets whether Lorex, a security camera company that was previously owned by the Chinese tech giant Dahua, is deceptively marketing surveillance cameras to Texans as safe and secure.   Lorex confirmed that it is aware of the attorney general’s probe and wrote, “We fully intend to contest the allegations made by the Attorney General, and we are confident that a fair hearing will determine that Lorex has taken the appropriate steps to safeguard customer privacy.”  Federal agencies have flagged Dahua as a “Chinese military company” and have implemented bans and restrictions on its products due to hacking and surveillance risks.​ view article

Texas school districts could be held liable for sexual misconduct involving teachers and students thanks to a new state law. State Representative Mitch Little from Lewisville discussed that law on Wednesday at a press conference at the Collin County courthouse in McKinney, where a pending lawsuit against Celina ISD accuses a former football coach of filming students undressing in the boys locker room. view article

There are increasing calls for transparency, along with more threats of legal action, in the case of former Celina ISD teacher and coach Caleb Elliott. The community is also grappling with the district's decision to place Bill Elliott, the suspect's father, who is also the head football coach at Celina High School and the district's athletic director, on 'non-disciplinary' paid leave. view article

The legal battle over West Texas A&M University’s drag show ban has taken a new turn after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear the case en banc—that is, before all 17 active judges of the appellate court.   This development means the court has vacated an earlier 2-1 panel ruling that had temporarily blocked the university’s drag ban and found that Spectrum WT, the campus LGBT student group, was likely to succeed on First Amendment grounds.​   The earlier ruling, issued in August, sided with the student group and said that the drag show was protected expressive conduct, and that the campus venue was a designated public forum subject to strict constitutional scrutiny.  view article

The Houston Independent School District filed a lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General's Office in an attempt to keep public information from our 13 Investigates team. 13 Investigates has been formally requesting information about the district's relationship with the agency for months and hasn't gotten any answers, so sending an open records request for emails was our next move. view article

State Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on October 23, requesting his office “undertake an outside and independent investigation into the shocking reports out of Celina ISD in Collin County.”  view article

A Collinsville ISD high school baseball coach has been placed on administrative leave over allegations of inappropriate communication with a student. Collinsville ISD superintendent Matthew Davenport confirmed that Collinsville High School baseball coach Derrick Jenkins has been placed on leave after receiving a report of inappropriate communication between Jenkins and a Collinsville ISD student. view article

Kristen Eichel, Coppell ISD’s former assistant superintendent for administrative services, was arrested Oct. 7 for property theft. According to Denton County bond records, Eichel was arrested on Tuesday, Oct. 7 for theft of property valued between $100 and $750. Eichel posted a $1,000 cash bond on Oct. 8 and was released from the Denton County Jail. view article

Cedar Hill ISD is working with police to investigate allegations involving former students and two of the district's band directors, according to a letter from Cedar Hill High School's principal sent to parents that was obtained by WFAA. According to the letter, the two employees were placed on leave pending the result of the police investigation. The letter stated that there are no allegations involving current students. view article

The Groveton school district in Trinity County has formally responded to KBTX’s reporting of an investigation involving Centerville ISD’s superintendent. In our reporting, KBTX confirmed Centerville ISD Superintendent Carole Dickey was indicted by a grand jury this month on a charge of failing to notify the Texas Education Agency of an educator accused of having a romantic relationship with a student. view article

A former Hondo High School teacher arrested on multiple charges Thursday is accused of having an improper relationship with a student, according to police. Thomas William Ricker Hill, 24, was taken into custody for indecency with a child by sexual contact, sexual performance by a child and improper relationship between educator and student, police said. Hill was later booked into the Medina County jail. view article

After several months of discussion, members of the Conroe ISD Board of Trustees approved changes to several district policies to comply with new legislation, but went a step further than some of those Texas laws.    Some changes are due to new legislation, while others are clarifications of existing district policies. In November, the board will adopt 12 more new or updated policies, Superintendent David Vinson said.   The new Senate Bill 12 prohibits assisting students with "social transitioning," which is defined as adopting a different name or pronouns to express a gender identity different from their biological sex at birth.  view article

City Council members will vote Tuesday on changing the name to Westside Drive at the request of developers to mirror the name of their upcoming $1.7 billion Westside Village. The project along White Settlement Road is set to break ground next year and, upon completion, will include a mix of office and retail space, plus a luxury hotel and apartments.  view article

The 5th Circuit last year overturned its previous ruling that allowed racial groups to band together to challenge voting maps, laying the groundwork for Texas’ mid-decade redistricting. view article

Centerville ISD is again at the center of an investigation involving a member of its staff. Assistant Superintendent Dottie Sullivan sent a statement to parents on Tuesday, notifying them of an allegation regarding an employee’s “unprofessional conduct” involving a student on the elementary campus. No additional information was shared, but Sullivan said the district is committed to full transparency. “Please be assured that student safety and campus integrity remain our highest priority,” she said. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office and Child Protective Services are each conducting their own investigations into this case, Sullivan confirmed. view article

The secretary of state identified 2,724 potential noncitizens registered to vote in Texas.   After running its entire list of more than 18 million voters through the SAVE database, Texas has identified 2,724 potential noncitizens who are registered to vote in the state.  Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Monday that her office had completed a full comparison of the state’s voter registration list against data in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database. view article

The Centerville school board is set to meet this week for the first time since the school district’s leader was booked into the Leon County jail and charged with a crime. On Friday, we reported the arrest of Centerville ISD Superintendent Carole Dickey who remains employed by the school district and supported by the school board. The next school board meeting is set for Thursday, October 23rd. view article