Parents are pushing back after a federal judge ruled that lawyers hired to defend the Lorena Independent School District in a civil rights lawsuit are entitled to interrogate a girl who was sexually abused by a teacher when she was 5 years old.
“We kept believing that if enough people spoke up, things would change. Instead, we watched a 10-year-old child become the target of a legal strategy that we simply can’t accept,” Lorena moms Charity Cervantez and Jessica Montez told Texas Scorecard.
For years, the moms have worked to hold Lorena ISD accountable: spoken at school board meetings, filed complaints, requested records. They also created an online community for sharing information about issues in the district, from student safety concerns to school officials’ lack of responsiveness or transparency.
“The recent ruling was the point where we looked at each other and said ‘It’s time to do something different,’” the moms said.
That “something” is Operation Unenroll, a movement to highlight issues causing Texas parents to take their kids out of public schools or not enroll them to begin with—a problem for Lorena ISD and other districts facing budget shortfalls due to declining enrollment.
Lorena ISD is now advertising for transfer students to fill empty seats, but parents are put off by the sex abuse scandal that has dragged on for years as district officials fight to avoid accountability.
“I wanted to be in Lorena ISD and send my kids to that school until the horrific events that took place several years ago,” mom Erika commented on an Operation Unenroll post. “Lorena ISD has gone about the whole situation completely wrong and it’s coming to bite them.”
Dad Jean-luc wrote, “We intentionally looked for a house outside of that school district last year when we were ready to buy specifically because of the principal April Jewell and the ongoing legal issues surrounding her … we did not feel our daughter was safe attending school there.”
“At one time a home in Lorena ISD was something we were considering. But all this stuff with the principal, the superintendent and the school board NOT protecting their students made us cross Lorena off our list,” shared Laynie. “We are in the process of moving to a new home in another district.”
Cervantez and Montez already made the decision to pull their children from Lorena ISD.
“I watched as serious concerns were ignored, my children paid the price, and the adults responsible for protecting them failed over and over again,” said Cervantez. “I refused to sacrifice my children’s safety, dignity, and future for the sake of a school district’s reputation.”
Cervantez unenrolled her students the year before the sexual abuse of pre-K girls at Lorena Primary School came to light due to the family’s lawsuit.
Parents of the victim known as Jane Doe sued Lorena ISD and Lorena Primary Principal April Jewell in 2023, after teacher Nicolas Crenshaw pleaded guilty to repeatedly molesting Jane during the 2020-21 school year. The lawsuit accuses Jewell of turning a blind eye to multiple complaints about Crenshaw’s classroom behavior, enabling his sexual abuse of students, including Jane.
With discovery finally underway for a May 2027 trial, Lorena ISD asked to depose Jane. Her parents sought a protective order to keep the girl from being re-traumatized by questioning about her abuse.
After hearing arguments last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dan MacLemore ruled in favor of the school district, agreeing their lawyers are “entitled” to depose the former Lorena ISD student about her sexual abuse “experiences, symptoms, alleged injuries, limitations, and present condition.”
MacLemore wrote that there are no federal court precedents for prohibiting a sexually abused child’s deposition just because it may cause trauma, and he reasoned a two- to three-hour video deposition would be less traumatic than testifying in court.
Cervantez and Montez, who attended the hearing to show support for the Doe family, were disturbed by the ruling.
So were many others—including childhood sexual abuse survivors and advocates.
“I am absolutely disgusted in Lorena ISD’s attorneys and anyone else trying to make a child relive that situation,” commented a survivor. “Unless a person has been through it, you have absolutely no idea how traumatizing it is to have to talk about it over and over… How disgusting and heartless everyone putting her through this is.”
“She should NOT have to relive that horror!” wrote an advocate for abused children. “I speak from experience when I say the more they have to recap, the more trauma they live with.”
“I’ve been the Plaintiff in a school sex abuse lawsuit,” posted another survivor, describing her questioning by school district lawyers as “horrific and humiliating.”
“The revictimization that occurred is something no child should have to endure after crimes were committed against them in a place they should have been safest,” she wrote. “But until we become outraged as communities, nothing will change!”
Cervantez and Montez—whose Facebook group is called Change Begins With Us—got to work and launched Operation Unenroll, using social media to gather and share stories about why families have decided to take their kids out of public schools.
“We’re not telling anyone else what they should do,” the moms said. “Every family has to make that decision for themselves. But we do believe every parent deserves to know what’s happening, ask hard questions, and decide where they draw the line.”
Mom Wendy shared that she removed her son from Lorena ISD after her concerns about his mistreatment in kindergarten were met with indifference then retaliation by Principal Jewell and other administrators.
Parents from other districts also shared their stories.
Chloe in Aubrey ISD and Marie in Austin ISD cited neglect and unsafe environments in their children’s classrooms, with Marie also alleging “falsification of records to cover up the failures.”
Kelsi in Apple Springs ISD said her child was physically abused in school. “Somehow all video footage was ‘gone.’ It’s so sad you are supposed to trust these people with your kiddos and you can’t even do that!”
“This is about what happens when the people in leadership refuse to listen,” wrote another Lorena mom.
Imagine dropping your child off at school, trusting the adults in charge to keep them safe. Then imagine something happens that changes your child’s life forever. You ask questions. You beg for answers. You plead for someone to do the right thing. Instead, you feel ignored.
“If families are crying out for help and no one is listening, then every one of us should care,” she added. “Our children deserve adults who are willing to fight for them, even when those children aren’t their own… Don’t wait until it’s your child. By then, it’s too late.”
Cervantez cautioned school board members during a meeting the night before Jane Doe’s protective order hearing.
“Parents across this community are watching,” Cervantez told trustees. “They’re asking themselves one question: ‘If this happened to my child, would this district protect us … or fight us?’ That question will shape trust in this district long after this lawsuit is over.”
Operation Unenroll is raising that question in the minds of parents across the state.
“This started with one little girl. It doesn’t end with one little girl,” said Cervantez and Montez. “Every parent in Texas should be paying attention.”
The Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard shows the Texas Education Agency receives a monthly average of nearly 1,700 complaints. Most involve physical violence against students, followed by allegations of sexual abuse of children by school staff.
