A new lawsuit accuses Plano ISD of failing to report sexual misconduct allegations against teacher Paul Campbell, enabling him to repeatedly molest an 8-year-old girl while she was a student in his Brinker Elementary classroom.
The lawsuit, filed July 30 by the girl’s parents, names Campbell, Plano Independent School District, and Brinker Elementary Principal Jennifer King as defendants.
Campbell, 64, has been charged with four felony sex crimes involving multiple students during two school years.
The parents allege King failed to investigate or report complaints about Campbell’s classroom behavior, allowing the teacher “unfettered access” to sexually abuse more female students, including their daughter, who is referred to as Janie Doe to protect her identity.
“In order to combat the pervasive teacher-student sexual assaults in public schools, we must look beyond the perpetrator teachers and hold accountable school administrators and public school districts,” the Doe family’s attorney Zeke Fortenberry states in the petition.
Civil Claims
The lawsuit accuses Campbell of continuously sexually abusing Janie Doe throughout the 2025-26 school year, touching her “genitals and bottom with his hand on numerous occasions” while she stood by his desk or the “teacher’s table” in his 2nd-grade classroom.
Principal King and Plano ISD are accused of gross negligence for failing to take any preventative measures to protect Janie and other girls from Campbell’s suspected sexual abuse.
King is also accused of failure to report.
According to the petition, prior to Campbell’s alleged abuse of Janie, a Brinker Elementary parent complained to King about Campbell inappropriately touching a girl in his class.
King also allegedly received a request for another girl to transfer out of Campbell’s class during the same time he is accused of abusing Janie. King denied the transfer.
After each incident, King failed to investigate Campbell’s behavior or provide additional supervision, and she failed to report the sexual misconduct allegation to law enforcement or the State Board for Educator Certification as required by law.
Instead, King allowed Campbell to keep teaching at Brinker Elementary, placing him “in a position of authority over second-grade students as a teacher where he could have unfettered access to girls”—including Janie Doe.
“Jane and John Doe trusted Defendant Plano ISD and Defendant King to provide a safe, nurturing environment, in loco parentis, and to staff teachers who were good role models and mentors not sexual predators,” the lawsuit states.
The Does are seeking monetary relief, including actual and exemplary damages, in an amount to be determined by a jury.
The lawsuit was filed in a state district court in Collin County.
Sex abuse victims are able to sue school districts in state court thanks to legislation passed in 2025 as House Bill 4623 that abolishes Texas public school districts’ immunity when they are “grossly negligent, reckless, or engage in intentional misconduct in hiring, supervising, or employing a professional school employee” who sexually assaults children.
According to the petition, Plano ISD and Principal King’s alleged failure to act on the complaints against Campbell is precisely the type of case the law was designed to address.
The petition states that the district placed King on a leave of absence on July 14. Plano ISD has not yet responded to a request to confirm King’s status or comment on the lawsuit.
Criminal Charges
Campbell was arrested July 8 on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, a first-degree felony punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
While still in custody, he was charged on July 27 with three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony, involving other students.
Campbell has been held in the Collin County Jail without bail since July 9.
In a writ hearing on July 31, Judge Jennifer Edgeworth set bond at $2.5 million—$1 million for the first-degree felony charge and $500,000 for each of the three second-degree felonies.
Prosecutor Ashleigh Woodall called Campbell a “serial predator” who used his position of authority to prey on 8-year-old girls. Woodall noted Campbell was entitled to bond but said the seriousness of his alleged crimes justified a high amount. Edgeworth agreed.
Edgeworth also set a number of bond conditions.
The Plano Police Department is still actively investigating Campbell. Anyone with information is asked to call their Special Victims Unit tip line at 972‑941‑2044.
Campbell has held a Texas teaching certificate since 1987. His certification is under review by the Texas Education Agency.
He worked in Plano ISD for almost 30 years and previously taught in Houston ISD.
In the past few years, hundreds of Texas school employees have been accused of sex crimes involving students and other children, and thousands have been reported to the TEA for sexual misconduct.
Texas Scorecard maintains a map of known educator sexual misconduct arrests.
At least a dozen Texas school districts are currently facing state or federal lawsuits for enabling their employees’ sexual abuse of students.
