The North East Independent School District board took no action against District 7 trustee Marsha Landry on Monday night amid allegations made in court documents and reported by a television station that she harmed and insulted her teenage stepson.
Landry is not facing criminal charges, according to KSAT-12.
An outpouring of community support chastised the district for discussing what NEISD board President Shannon Grona called a private matter.
“The board does not have the authority to remove a trustee,” said Grona after the board discussed other district business. “Per Mrs. Landry, CPS did not investigate the allegations. This is a personal and private matter requiring due process. The board will continue to monitor the situation.”
Marsha Landry demanded a retraction from KSAT in a video recorded with her husband, Rodney Landry, and an accompanying statement posted to Facebook last month.
Rodney Landry, who was present at the meeting Monday, declined to comment.
In the video, Marsha Landry denied the allegations and said the comments in the KSAT report were being taken out of context.
Francisco R. Canseco, a former congressman and attorney, was also listed on the letter, and did not respond to requests for comment Monday. The letter did not refute any specific allegations made in the story.
Friends, parents and residents spoke in defense of Marsha Landry during public comment, whom she commended, calling the outpouring “very touching.”
Nathan Morgan compared the situation to his own.
“I have suffered the depraved environment in divorce court, where dishonesty abounds and wild contrived tales are sworn in, entered into the public record as true,” he said.
Morgan and others said the allegations were political in nature.
Speaking to the board, he said the district should “get their head out of the trash can.”
Another speaker pointed out that Marsha Landry has been outspoken against alleged inappropriate books in school libraries.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” Michael Roth said. “You guys are disgusting.”
Patrick Von Dohlen, who unsuccessfully ran for San Antonio City Council in 2021, called on the board to give the trustee an apology.
“The board owes her a public apology, begging for her forgiveness,” he said, also calling on the station to issue an apology.
The allegations were originally aired by the TV station at the end of March, after reporter Dillon Collier and photojournalist Joshua Saunders received court records through an open records request.
KSAT reported that Landry was accused of repeatedly hitting her teenage stepson, withholding food from him and calling the teen “her slave.”
The San Antonio Report has not independently verified the court documents.
The station reported that the child referenced in the court documents no longer attends Madison High School, which is in NEISD.
Marsha Landry, who was elected in 2022 and ran on a platform of “parents rights and family values” was endorsed by Moms for Liberty of Bexar County.
According to a biography on the district’s website she has been a resident of San Antonio for more than 40 years and attended schools in NEISD.
Her campaign and the district biography say she works for USAA as a workforce business advisor. But a representative of the company said Landry hasn’t worked for USAA since June, the month after she was elected.
An NEISD spokeswoman said they were “unaware of her employment status” in an email.
Marsha Landry declined to comment on her current occupation.
