More families are suing Celina Independent School District, accusing the district of gross negligence for enabling a middle school coach’s alleged illicit locker room recording of student athletes while the boys were undressed and showering.
The new lawsuit was filed this week by families of three Moore Middle School students who were victimized by their coach William Caleb Elliott.
Caleb Elliott is the 26-year-old son of Celina ISD’s longtime Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Bill Elliott.
The petition describes Caleb Elliott as “a predator enabled by nepotism and willful blindness” and asserts that his father Bill Elliott’s “on-field success” in football “translated into outsized influence within Celina ISD.”
In addition to the district, the lawsuit names as defendants Caleb Elliott, Bill Elliott, Moore Middle School Principal Allison Ginn, and Celina ISD Superintendent Tom Maglisceau.
The complaint alleges “a disturbing pattern of sexual misconduct and invasive visual recording of minor children by Elliott inside the boys’ locker room, enabled by grossly negligent hiring, supervision, and retention by Celina ISD,” according to a statement released by attorneys in the case.
A separate lawsuit filed earlier this month makes similar allegations against the district and Caleb Elliott.
The lawsuits allege the district was not only aware of Caleb Elliott’s prior predation of young boys, but deliberately covered it up—possibly to protect the legacy of Celina ISD’s famed football program.
Families in both cases are seeking relief under a new law, passed this year as House Bill 4623, designed to hold school districts accountable for failing to protect students from sexual predators by eliminating districts’ sovereign immunity from civil liability in sex abuse cases. The law took effect September 1.
“For more than half a century, school administrators in Texas operated with near-total immunity,” said Brad Beckworth of Nix Patterson, the law firm representing families in the second suit.
Even when they knew about abuse, even when they covered it up, even when they moved predators from school to school, they faced no personal consequences. That era is over. This lawsuit announces to every school administrator in Texas: if you cover up child abuse, you can be held accountable.
HB 4623 author State Rep. Mitch Little (R–Lewisville) held a press conference this week to highlight how families can use the new law and to call for transparency from Celina ISD.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis is prosecuting the criminal case against Caleb Elliott.
Attorney General Ken Paxton also initiated a criminal investigation into whether Celina ISD administrators hushed up Elliott’s past predatory behavior, following a request from State Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Allen) for a “fully independent and outside” investigation “to ensure Texas law was complied with.”
Caleb Elliott was a 6th grade teacher and 8th grade coach at Moore Middle School until his arrests earlier this month on charges of invasive visual recording and possession of child sexual abuse material. He has since been allowed to resign.
Bill Elliott and Allison Ginn were placed on paid “non-disciplinary” administrative leave effective October 24 pending completion of the district’s own third-party investigation, according to Maglisceau.
Maglisceau also stated that the district’s investigation is on hold at the direction of the Celina Police Department until its criminal investigation is complete.
Previous reporting on the Celina ISD scandal:
- Celina ISD Coach Charged With Invasive Visual Recording of Middle Schoolers
- Celina ISD Middle School Coach Faces New Child Porn Charge
- Celina ISD Lets Coach Resign After Locker Room Recording Scandal
- Victims of Locker Room Recording Scandal Sue Celina ISD for Coverup
- Lawmaker Calls for State to Investigate Celina ISD Scandal
- Celina ISD Faces Criminal Investigation Over Claimed Coverup of Coach Preying on Boys
- State Rep. Mitch Little Calls for Transparency in Celina ISD Sexual Abuse Scandal
