A state law passed last year to protect Texas students from harm at the hands of school employees is ensuring that educators arrested for serious crimes are kept out of classrooms while the cases against them are prosecuted.
The new law, known as Senate Bill 571, requires the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) to temporarily suspend the teaching certificates of educators arrested for certain felonies involving sexual or violent abuse, inappropriate relationships with students, or other serious misconduct.
SB 571, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and took effect in June 2025, also requires temporary suspensions for educators who SBEC members find pose an “imminent threat” to student safety.
On Thursday, SBEC’s Temporary Suspension Committee—formed last year in response to SB 571—considered 14 cases of certified teachers recently arrested for qualifying crimes.
The cases included Kolby Campbell, who was a high school theater teacher in Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District until his arrest in March on a charge of child grooming, a third-degree felony.
Campbell’s certification will remain on indefinite suspension until final disposition of the criminal charges against him. The State Office of Administrative Hearings will then determine if his certificate should be revoked.
Prior to passage of SB 571, authored by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston), educators arrested for serious crimes such as sexual abuse of students had their teaching certificates flagged as “under review,” but sanctions were not added until after suspects were finally convicted.
For example, teacher Emmanuel Palacios was arrested in 2022 on multiple charges of raping a 15-year-old United ISD student. Four years later, Palacios pleaded guilty; his teaching certificate has remained valid.
Now, temporary suspensions are triggered when the Texas Education Agency (TEA) receives misconduct reports and/or fingerprint-based criminal history alerts from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI.
Reports are reviewed and verified by TEA’s Educator Investigations Division, which then recommends disciplinary actions to SBEC—including temporary suspensions as warranted.
SBEC members approve suspensions (and other sanctions) as part of their regular meetings, as well as during meetings of the Temporary Suspension Committee.
A new TEA transparency tool called the Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard shows that in the first eight months of Fiscal Year 2026, which began in September 2025, the agency has received more than 13,000 misconduct complaints (1,200 a month) and more than 17,000 criminal history alerts (2,100 a month).
According to dashboard data, the TEA and SBEC have implemented 171 indefinite suspensions so far this fiscal year.
SBEC’s quarterly disciplinary action reports—which now list not only the names of sanctioned teachers, but also the school district where they worked, the type of misconduct, and sanction details—show 18 indefinite suspensions in the first quarter (September–November 2025) and 81 indefinite suspensions in the second quarter (December 2025–February 2026).
Temporary Certification Suspensions
Texas educators whose certificates have been indefinitely suspended following arrests for serious crimes include:
Rene Tavera Arango, a 70-year-old elementary school teacher in Splendora ISD arrested in September 2025 and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Andrew McGann, a 28-year-old elementary school teacher arrested in July 2025 for murdering the parents of two young girls in Arkansas. McGann was placed on leave from Lewisville ISD in the 2022-23 school year over grooming allegations but was never reported to TEA.
Jennifer Powers, a 45-year-old substitute teacher in Carroll ISD arrested in September 2025 on federal sex trafficking charges for luring dozens of women to her then-boss’ New York City “sex dungeon.”
Chad Beery, a Mesquite ISD teacher arrested in November 2025 on charges of possessing child sexual abuse materials.
Eduardo Cantu, a 46-year-old high school mariachi music teacher arrested in December 2025 and charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female student.
KeSean Carter, a 24-year-old teacher’s aide in Conroe ISD arrested in September 2024 and charged with sexual assault of a child.
Bailey Estrada, a 24-year-old special education aide in Northside ISD arrested in October 2025 on a child sexual assault charge.
Armando Flores, a 34-year-old coach at Holy Cross middle/high school in San Antonio arrested in October 2025 and charged with invasive visual recording.
Carlos Font Santiago, a 31-year-old girls’ sports coach in Azle ISD arrested in April and again in December 2025 on charges of improper relationship between educator and student and sexual assault of a child. The student he allegedly assaulted also sued the coach and school district.
Pietro Giustino, a 39-year-old Belton ISD high school teacher arrested in July 2025 on a federal charge of possessing child sexual abuse material. Giustino was arrested again in September 2025 on a state charge for invasive visual recording of female students in a classroom. He pleaded guilty in March 2026 to the federal charge.
Andrew Harvey, head football coach and athletic director for Howe ISD at the time of his arrest in June 2025 on charges of soliciting a prostitute under the age of 18, online solicitation of a minor, and display of harmful material to a minor.
Thomas Hill, a 24-year-old high school teacher in Hondo ISD arrested in October 2025 on charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact, sexual performance by a child, and improper relationship between educator and student.
Shelby Lashombe, a 25-year-old high school teacher and coach in Valley Mills ISD arrested in September 2025 and charged with raping two underage boys in other school districts. Lashombe permanently surrendered her teaching certificate in January and pleaded guilty in April 2026 to two counts of improper relationship between educator and student.
Paul Leafgreen, a 49-year-old lecturer at the University of Texas-Arlington arrested in October 2025 for possession of child sexual abuse material. Leafgreen previously taught at multiple school districts in Tarrant County.
Christopher Lemoine, a 40-year-old athletic trainer in Center ISD arrested in November 2025 and charged with improper relationship between educator and student.
Robby Mason, a 56-year-old retired Dumas ISD elementary school teacher arrested in September 2025 on federal charges of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.
Jeremy Maxfield, a 41-year-old teacher and coach in Lubbock ISD arrested in August 2025 and charged with three counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of improper relationship between educator and student.
George McAllister, a 61-year-old welding teacher in Ferris ISD arrested in November 2025 and charged with possessing child sexual abuse material.
Lance Mosley, a 35-year-old middle school band director in Abilene ISD arrested in January and indicted in May 2026 for possessing child sexual abuse material.
Joshua Nguyen, a 41-year-old high school teacher in Rockport-Fulton ISD arrested in December 2025 on charges of sexual assault of a child and improper relationship between educator and student. His alleged victim is suing Nguyen and the school district, as well as Nguyen’s twin brothers.
DeShawn Parks, a 39-year-old Lancaster ISD band director arrested in October 2025 on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact.
John Taylor, a high school teacher and coach in Texas City ISD arrested in July 2025 and charged with online solicitation of a minor.
Jainya Walder, a 40-year-old Celina ISD middle school teacher arrested in October 2025 and charged with child endangerment. Walder allegedly took a student off campus in her car and drove while intoxicated; hours later she had a blood alcohol content of 0.22 percent, almost three times the legal limit.
Jared Young, a 33-year-old teacher and coach in Mansfield ISD arrested in October 2025 and charged with sexual assault of a child, possession and transmission of child pornography, and improper relationship between educator and student. The charges involved a student in Alvarado ISD, where Young previously taught.
Michael Cheek, a 48-year-old Frisco ISD elementary school teacher arrested in February 2026 on a charge of invasive visual recording.
Adrian Diaz, a 40-year-old IDEA charter school teacher arrested in February 2026 for improper relationship between educator and student.
Jonathan Marks, a middle school special education teacher in Austin ISD arrested in November 2025 and charged with possession of child sexual abuse material and improper relationship.
Landon Odom, a middle school teacher and coach in Central Heights ISD arrested in November 2025 and charged with sexual assault of a child.
The next regular SBEC meeting is scheduled for July 23-24.
The public can use the TEA’s certification lookup tool to check the status of any certified Texas educator, although it can be difficult to distinguish among teachers with the same or similar names.
Do Not Hire Registry
SB 571 also empowered the TEA to add a broader range of non-certified school employees to the state’s Do Not Hire Registry when they are arrested for crimes that make them a danger to students.
This has contributed to a significant uptick in additions to the DNHR, which are also tracked on the Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard.
For example, in April the TEA added Sanger ISD police officer Israel Demello to the registry, ensuring he can no longer work around Texas public school children.
“The Do Not Hire Registry is crucial in preventing individuals accused of serious misconduct from moving between school systems and continuing to have access to students,” said Levi Fuller, Texas’ first Inspector General for Educator Misconduct. “Our teams are working aggressively, alongside our law enforcement partners, to identify and act on cases that pose a risk to student safety.”
Since Fuller began in February, monthly DNHR placements hit an all-time high of 153 in May, bringing the total to 638 with three months left in the fiscal year.
Temporary placements are barred from working in Texas public schools in any capacity while their cases are pending. If convicted, their placement on the registry will become permanent.
TEA recently merged its DNHR data with the multi-agency SEMARC database, giving school districts and other government employers more information when screening potential hires.
All TEA transparency tools can be found on the agency’s new Student Protection Resource Center webpage.
Texas Scorecard maintains a map of known educator sexual misconduct arrests.
