ROUND ROCK — A troubling and contentious scandal is growing in a “safe and suburban” Central Texas school district.

New documents obtained by Texas Scorecard reveal more details of the domestic violence accusations against newly hired Round Rock Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Hafedh Azaiez—and the school board’s efforts to cover it up and protect him.

Allegations against Azaiez first surfaced last summer and sparked months of incidents that made national headlines. At a public meeting in August, Azaiez and a majority of the seven-member board ordered district police officers to remove a father who testified about the allegations; then at a public meeting in September, they blocked citizens outside the lecture hall and removed another father who spoke out. Afterward, the board even coordinated with the county sheriff’s office to arrest those two concerned parents, then tried to censure the two trustees who dissented.

Meanwhile, a district judge issued a temporary restraining order against Azaiez, and both the Texas Education Agency and Travis County Sheriff’s Office are conducting ongoing investigations into the superintendent.

Texas Scorecard previously chronicled the months-long saga in a recent special report and exclusive podcast series, Exposed.

The Allegations

In a newly disclosed court document, the alleged mistress and victim of Azaiez’s abuse describes the series of events in her own words. (Due to concerns for her physical safety, Texas Scorecard is withholding the woman’s name in order to protect her privacy.)

The allegations are part of a declaration attached to her application for a temporary restraining order against Azaiez that was filed last July.

TEA sought to withhold the shocking allegations from the public, but the Texas attorney general’s office ordered the documents be released.

She details the relationship timeline, in which Azaiez lied to her about being married and began a three-year affair, even moving to a job in the Austin area to be closer to her. However, when she became pregnant with his child, the situation turned violent.

“I informed Mr. Azaiez of the pregnancy on June 24, 2021. Mr Azaiez had just signed a contract to become the Superintendent of the Round Rock Independent School District. He was very worried about the possibility of losing his job. He was very angry and accused me of doing this on purpose to destroy his career and family,” the statement reads. “Just the week prior, he told me he wanted to be with me and said he needed to process how to go about this. As soon as I told him I was pregnant, he then blamed me for the affair.”

Attached to the declaration is a screenshot of a text message exchange between Azaiez and the woman.

“This baby has a heartbeat. I will not kill it,” she said.

“For the last time I am telling you please get an abortion you don’t know what you are getting yourself into,” Azaiez replied. “I have a lot to lose and I will not let you make me lose everything.you need to get rid of it I don’t want it . You did this on purpose to make me lose it all and now you are using it to make me defamation.”

“I will make you pay this you will not make me lose everything,” Azaiez continued. “The right thing is not possible right now you can’t understand you know this career. Don’t make me go after you and make you pay the consequences for you and this baby[.]”

Her statement details the alleged assault.

“Very late [on July 6] Mr. Azaiez came to my home and started to argue with me, telling me to get an abortion and I refused. He became so angry he grabbed my arms with force, shaking me and shoving me until he threw me to the floor. I told him I would call the police and he grabbed my phone. He then started to say he was sorry and say he didn’t mean to do this.”

She added that a week and a half later, she came home to find that her home had been broken into and “searched.” When she did a walk-through with a county deputy, she found the only stolen items were ones with personal information (personal laptop, iPad, pictures, and personal journals). All of her cash, jewelry, and other valuables were untouched.

“I believe the break-in was Mr. Azaiez gathering my personal items that might expose him and prove that this relationship was true and any possible evidence I may have to support the existence of the relationship and his threatening behaviors,” she said.

“This man has lost his sense of reality and I believe he is very emotionally unstable,” the statement reads. “He believes he will lose his lucrative superintendent contract and he is determined to not lose it…I developed bruises and since this attack I have had some bleeding and spotting in my pregnancy and have been advised by my physician that I am threatened to miscarry the pregnancy. I do not want to lose my baby.”

The Cover-up

Prior to the alleged assault, she also said she told Azaiez she needed to tell her employer about the baby, but Azaiez replied he would try to discredit her and alleged he had the backing of Round Rock ISD’s school board president.

“I informed [Azaiez] I needed to tell the truth and asked him several times to inform his school board before they found out via other sources of information, as many Round Rock ISD employees are my colleagues and classmates in my doctoral program. He said the school board president [Amy Weir] was aware and had offered to protect him, she was informing him of everything and guaranteed him he would not lose his job.”

“In the past, I had heard conversations between him and the school board president plotting things and keeping things from other school board members. On the day of the vote for his hire she planned and asked him to be present without anyone else knowing and used the communications director to continue the planning.”

In an August article, Texas Scorecard first exposed Round Rock ISD trustees Amy Weir, Amber Feller, Tiffanie Harrison, Jun Xiao, and Cory Vessa for attempting to cover up the fact they were made aware of the allegations against Azaiez as early as July 2021.

Only in January, RRISD’s school board—after months of public outcry and incidents—finally placed Azaiez on paid administrative leave during two investigations. The board may potentially decide on his employment at a school board meeting on Thursday.

Jacob Asmussen

Jacob Asmussen is a Senior Journalist for Texas Scorecard. He attended the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and in 2017 earned a double major in public relations and piano performance.

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