Members of the State Board for Educator Certification voted to reconsider their April decision against sanctioning a high school football coach found to have recklessly endangered students, then remanded his case back to a judge for further review.
At issue is the definition of “reckless.”
During an SBEC meeting Tuesday, Vice Chair Julia Dvorak stated that the board had previously used an “incorrect” legal standard to decide if the state had established reckless behavior, using a “higher burden of proof than required by statute and rule,” and thus would reconsider the matter.
After a closed executive session, the board’s legal counsel framed the issue as asking the judge to “fix the mistakes” in her findings and send a revised recommendation back to SBEC for reconsideration.
Background
In 2023, then-coach John Harrell conducted boot camp-style training that injured more than 20 Rockwall ISD football players, with several requiring hospitalization.
After hearing the state’s case against Harrell, an administrative law judge with the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) found that the coach recklessly endangered the students’ physical health—a violation of the Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics that requires the state to revoke an educator’s teaching certificate.
The judge then issued a Proposal For Decision (PFD) recommending revocation, as required by law.
Yet in an April meeting, SBEC members rejected the judge’s recommendation.
Dvorak and other board members called the harm to the boys “unfortunate” but decided Harrell didn’t “knowingly or recklessly” hurt students and voted to modify the judge’s findings so that Harrell received no disciplinary action against his professional certification.
Following the reprieve, Harrell suggested that he might consider going back to coaching.
SBEC then agreed to reconsider their original decision during a board meeting on Tuesday.
Vote to Reconsider and Remand
During Tuesday’s SBEC meeting, Dvorak stated the issue.
On April 24 we considered the Proposal for Decision from SOAH and voted to modify the PFD. In modifying the PFD, we changed the findings to reflect that we did not believe that reckless behavior had been established.
However, after our vote, it was brought to my attention that the legal standard we used in deciding this matter was incorrect. So, as a result, we held TEA staff to a higher burden of proof than required by statute and rule.
Board members then went into a closed executive session with legal counsel from the Office of the Attorney General and Texas Education Agency.
After about 45 minutes, board members emerged to vote on the matter.
Members first approved a parliamentary motion to undo their April vote on Harrell’s case.
Dvorak then said, “Now that we have the original PFD before us, I would like to make a motion that we remand this PFD back to SOAH for reconsideration as to the finding of recklessness, with an instruction to either fully articulate what conduct constituted recklessness or to amend the PFD to reflect what standard of misconduct the underlying conduct constitutes.”
The board’s legal counsel explained that the purpose of the vote was to send the case back to SOAH so the administrative law judge can “fix the mistakes they made.”
“I just want to remind everyone that the concern here is this idea of intentionally reckless, and that is not the standard,” he said. “The request is that SOAH either fix their mistake or we go back to this with the error in it. But SOAH has made a mistake, and we want SOAH to readdress it.”
If SOAH sends it back with those mistakes baked in, then you know what decision you’ve already reached. That’s very easy.
If SOAH says we recognize the mistakes, we’re going to fix it, then the board addresses it.
Do we find that the explanation that SOAH gave fixes the mistake? If it does, how do you want to vote? That’s completely up to you at that moment, but right now with the defect in it, it needs to be fixed.
The board approved Dvorak’s motion to remand Harrell’s case back to the SOAH judge.
Harrell’s teaching certificate is currently inactive.
The State Board for Educator Certification was created by the Texas Legislature in 1995 to grant public school educators authority to govern standards of conduct within their profession.
SBEC consists of 15 members, including 11 voting members appointed by the governor. Board members are required to meet quarterly to conduct business, including deciding disciplinary action on complaints filed with the TEA against certified educators.
Meeting information can be found here.
