Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District
Tommy Wallis, Kirbyville (Texas) school superintendent
Tommy Wallis, Kirbyville (Texas) school superintendent
Tommy Wallis, Kirbyville (Texas) school superintendent
Tommy Wallis, Kirbyville (Texas) school superintendent
Tommy Wallis, Kirbyville (Texas) school superintendent

School superintendent in Texas accuses his former district of leaking documents to reporters

June 24, 2017
Kirbyville superintendent has filed a contempt of court motion against the Bryan (Texas) district,

The superintendent of the Kirbyville (Texas) district has filed a contempt of court motion against his former employer, the Bryan (Texas) district, and five of its employees, accusing them of leaking documents to the media concerning ethical violations that led to his departure from Bryan.

KBTX-TV reports that Tommy Wallis filed the motion in response to media reports about information presented to the Bryan district in 2016 alleging multiple ethical violations. Wallis resigned from the Bryan district in October.

Attorneys representing Wallis contend that the Bryan district and any of its participating employees, should be held in contempt of court for releasing that information while a temporary injunction was in place to keep school district records about Wallis from being released to the public.

Wallis is asking the court in Travis County to impose the following sanctions:

  • The school board and each district defendant to pay up to $37,000 in penalties or be confined in the county jail
  • If confinement is ordered, that each defendant post a bond payable to Wallis to ensure they appear in court if released from jail
  • A fine for each Bryan district defendant that allegedly violated the terms of the temporary Injunction
  • A payment of up to $20,000, which represents the attorney's fees and taxable court costs incurred by Wallis

Wallis's attorneys, contend that the Bryan district and its employees "had an affirmative duty to protect the documents, information and/or material specifically protected by" the injunction.

The documents are among several of Wallis's employment files that have been ruled as public records by the Texas Attorney General, but Wallis filed a lawsuit in January to keep his records confidential.

Some Kirbyville district patrons have called for Wallis to resign in light of the suicide last month of Kirbyville High School Principal Dennis Reeves. Reeves resigned abruptly after a contentious meeting with Wallis and assistant superintendent Georgia Sayers, and was found dead in his pickup truck in the campus parking lot less than an hour later.

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