The Edgewood Independent School District board of managers on Friday will consider action to place Superintendent Emilio Castro on paid leave pending an investigation into harassment allegations made against him by a district employee.
Last Friday, Feb. 16, Edgewood ISD employee Gloria D. Collins submitted a written complaint against Castro with the school district, detailing what she said were three separate incidents of unwanted physical contact, including an alleged incident earlier that day during which the two were alone in her office. Collins also filed a report with the San Antonio Police Department.
On Monday, Castro denied the allegations and said any complaint against the superintendent is turned over to the school board for review.
“The merits of this complaint are not factual and I look forward to the school board reviewing and investigating the complaint,” Castro said in a text to the Rivard Report. “I will have no other comment until this investigation is completed.”
Collins declined several requests by the Rivard Report to be interviewed about her allegations or about the statement filed with Edgewood school officials. In the statement – filed with the school district’s Talent Management Department, Office of Employee Relations and obtained by the Rivard Report – Collins’ job title is listed as “HR specialist.” Edgewood’s Talent Management Department was formerly called the Human Resources Department.
Collins’ statement recounted three separate occasions on which she wrote that Castro initiated physical contact that was unwanted and not encouraged by her. The first incident allegedly occurred in August 2017 when Collins first started working within the district.
In that first meeting, according to Collins’ statement, Castro shook her hand, cupping it for a length of time that she wrote made her feel “very uncomfortable.”
The second incident allegedly occurred at an event for new teachers. Collins wrote in the statement that she was sitting in a chair, welcoming the new employees, when Castro put his hands on both of her shoulders, squeezing them, and maintaining physical contact as he walked around her.
The third incident allegedly occurred Feb. 16, in a one-on-one conversation between Castro and Collins. She wrote in the statement that the two were seated in chairs while discussing how to keep substitute teachers when Castro placed his hand underneath Collins’ knee and “squeezed it gently.” Then, Collins alleged in the statement, Castro “rubbed his hand” down from Collins’ knee past her calf.
Collins reported the alleged incident that afternoon to the district’s employee relations officer.
According to Collins’ statement, as she was speaking to the employee relations officer, Daphene Carson, and a female Edgewood ISD police officer, Castro entered the room and said, “I just want to talk to her,” but was asked to leave.
On Monday, Carson directed all questions related to the allegations to the district’s communications offices. District spokeswoman Keyhla Calderon-Lugo said the district would issue no further comment on the matter until the investigation is complete.
After reporting the alleged incidents to district officials, Collins reported the matter to the San Antonio Police Department. The police report, dated Feb. 16, identifies the primary offense as “assault contact/non-family.” The report details the same alleged incidents of unwanted contact that Collins reported to Edgewood ISD officials.
An agenda for the school district’s regularly scheduled board of managers meeting Tuesday called for managers to “[c]onduct Superintendent’s Formative Evaluation” within closed session. A report on the allegations will be presented to the board of managers, according to a district statement.
Calderon-Lugo said an additional special meeting is planned for Friday, Feb. 23, to address the investigation. At this meeting, managers will consider hiring a third-party firm to investigate the allegations and appointing an administrator-in-charge, according to a published agenda.
Castro was first hired by Edgewood ISD in November 2016, leaving a job as the deputy superintendent of administration and operations at San Antonio ISD to take on the lead role on the Westside district of roughly 11,000 students.
Edgewood ISD is governed by a five-person board of managers, selected by the Texas Education Agency. The TEA installed the board of managers in May 2016, saying the elected board of trustees was unable to govern the district.
District policy states it should take “all steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring.” In addition, policy mandates that Edgewood must permit an employee to report a grievance against a supervisor to an alternate supervisor if the grievance involves the supervisor violating the law in the workplace or unlawfully harassing the employee.
At a Feb. 6 board workshop attended by Castro, Senior Executive Director of the Talent Management Department Travis McKelvain made a presentation to managers about the TEA’s ethics training that is to be implemented throughout each school in the district.
Managers and Castro engaged in a lengthy discussion about the importance of the training, components of which include: teacher and student personal boundaries; educator-student interaction; student discipline and teacher anger management; conduct outside of school; confronting and reporting borderline behavior; and the role of administrators in the prevention and intervention of inappropriate behavior.
I think he was also let go by Dallas school and another for the same thing.
I applaud Ms. Collins, for her bravery in coming forward . Hopefully a third party investigation that has no ties to the school district . Lawyer up Ms. Collins and stay strong .
Thank you for your kind words!
I applaud Ms. Collins for her bravery and making her voice heard. I too felt uncomfortable when I first met Mr. Castro. I shrugged it off thinking it was nothing but seeing this reassures me that my intuition was right. Men like this don’t deserve to be a leader especially a leader of a school district. I hope the people of Edgewood speak up.
Thank you.
Nice to know that someone who treated me so unprofessionally may have to answer for something.
The whole district is a mess, starting with Castro. Why didn’t McKelvain do anything about the previous accusations against the Sup? This is the first one gone public. But there should be record of past incidents. Why is there a NURSE in charge of the Districts Operations? Yes, Hestroverto Martinez major’s are as a nurse. He micromanages every department. Someone needs to put that dog on a leash. Thats the reason the board of managers also got rid of the only manager that looked into these issues.
Cheap Shot! Why attack someone who has nothing to do with the serious allegations that are being made. You criticize other staff members that have nothing to do with the article that has been put out. This is prime example of what is wrong with this country.
Sad to say that you have to take advantage of being On the news so other concerns can get fixed. What do you know about that?
Because Dr. Castro and Mr. McKelvain are friends.
Nothing was done to McKelvain unfortunately. You are a brave woman!
Regardless of what happened, posting the alleged victim’s name is pretty egregious. Other news outlets are not doing that. I can’t imagine what kind of attention this woman must be getting right now or how she can do her job while this is going on. Bad form.
The backlash and retaliation has been relentless and ruthless.
Sad to say that “Concerned Citizens” like you who like to publicly attack people without knowing facts, think that by calling someone out is going to “fix” other concerns. There is proper way in handling situations and you Sir have set the example of what not to do. You should be ashamed to suggest that by your actions, it will fix whatever personal vendetta you have against the person you have publicly attacked. And if you have issues with a “Nurse” running a department, (which is false because I’ve done my research), then you Sir have personal issues with Nurses, and by the way Nurses are great! And let me mention that the person you attacked is also a veteran of our great country. You should be embarrassed of your remarks to say the least.
I recommend that you deal with personal grudges another way because your comment is direct attack.
I can not believe Castro thought he was untouchable because he took his “people” with him to Edgewood. He needs to be fired! Women should not be silenced because they need a job to support themselves and family.
Thanks a lot
I never thought of myself as strong or brave but I can do ALL things through Christ who strengths me!
The backlash and retaliation form Mr. McKelvain and the School District attorney has been ruthless and relentless. As I type this now, I am still in they eye of the hurricane.
My truths are… I did NOTHING wrong. I told the truth. My God is a might God.
Thank you for your comments and support, more than anything I ask for your prayers 🙂