A federal judge has dismissed most claims in a lawsuit against Millsap Independent School District and several educators charged with abusing special-needs students and covering up the scandal.
“All we want as parents is justice for our children and for them to have the same chances every other child has,” Millsap mom Carissa Cornelius posted to social media following U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s March 31 ruling.
Cornelius’ autistic son Alex was one of three special education students targeted for abuse by Millsap ISD employees. District administrators hid the abuse from families and failed to timely report it to authorities as required by Texas law.
The abuse and subsequent coverup came to light in March 2025, when a whistleblower’s video of the teachers’ abusing Alex was widely shared on social media.
Then-Millsap ISD Superintendent Mari Edith “Edie” Martin and two now-former employees—special education teacher Jennifer Cain Dale and paraprofessional Paxton Kendal Bean—are defendants in the lawsuit. All three are facing criminal charges in Parker County.
Roxie Ann Carter is also a defendant in the parents’ lawsuit. Carter was the principal of Millsap Elementary when the abuse occurred and is also Bean’s mother, but she has not been charged.
School board trustees allowed Martin and Carter to resign in the wake of the scandal. Dale and Bean were suspended when the allegations arose and no longer work for the district.
Cornelius and two other Millsap ISD moms sued in June 2025.
The parents presented evidence that a whistleblower inside the school brought several videos to Martin and Carter on February 19 that documented classroom abuse and that Martin’s first move was to contact Millsap ISD’s outside law firm.
Cornelius only learned of the abuse weeks later, on March 4, from the whistleblower.
The whistleblower and two others in the classroom had been directed to sign nondisclosure agreements and were told by Martin that she had “immediately reported the abuse to the Texas Education Agency, Child Protective Services, and Parker County Sheriff’s Office.”
But Martin’s claims proved untrue.
As soon as Cornelius learned what happened, she contacted the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, who told her it was the first they were hearing about it. Their investigation also revealed that Martin never filed a report with CPS, and reports to TEA came days beyond the legal deadline.
Yet O’Connor granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss all but one of the parents’ claims.
O’Connor ordered that Bean is not entitled to “qualified immunity” from civil liability for certain of her acts of “random, malicious, and unprovoked” abuse of Alex and another student. He found that Bean’s attacks were not disciplinary and were clearly illegal.
He let Millsap ISD and its former top administrator off the hook, concluding that the parents’ allegations “do not indicate that there was a failure to report” because “within two weeks of hearing about the abuse, Dale and Bean were both reported by Martin, and an investigation immediately followed.”
Mark Allen, Cornelius’ step-father, responded online that the board of trustees knew about the allegations as well as Martin and others, and they also failed to make any required reports.
“In other words, the entire MISD organization failed to report within 48 hours, even though they are all required by law to do so,” wrote Allen. “It took the family calling law enforcement to do the reporting.”
“The civil lawsuit was never about getting rich,” wrote Cornelius, a single mom since Alex’s dad passed away in 2020. “The civil lawsuit was about accountability.”
“It’s a sad truth but nowadays the only way for people to learn is to hit them where it hurts and that’s in the wallet,” she wrote, adding that any money they would’ve received from the suit would’ve gone to therapy for her son.
Alex is COMPLETELY TRAUMATIZED.
All we want as parents is justice for our children and for them to have the same chances every other child has. My son deserves everything every child does and that’s respect, love and a safe environment to learn and grow. I’m not asking a lot here.
Cornelius told Texas Scorecard that her family is currently “looking at all of our options to decide our next move.”
The families are also following the criminal cases against the now-former Millsap ISD educators.
A grand jury indicted Martin on a misdemeanor charge of failure to report, dismissing a felony charge of failing to report with intent to conceal. Dale was charged with official oppression, also a misdemeanor, and Bean was indicted for felony injury to a child—an 8-year-old student whose parent is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Martin’s and Dale’s cases are scheduled for pre-trial hearings on June 11 before Judge Kirk Martin in Parker County Court at Law 1. Bean is scheduled for a jury trial on May 18 in the 415th District Court of Judge Graham Quisenberry.
