Arrested school district superintendent resigns amid claims that teachers mentally, verbally abused special-needs students

The superintendent from a Texas school district — along with two teachers in the district — were arrested Thursday in connection with child abuse allegations, the Parker County Sheriff’s Office said.

At Monday’s school board meeting of the Millsap Independent School District, it was announced that arrested Superintendent Edie Martin was resigning from her position, WFAA-TV reported. The board unanimously accepted her resignation, the station said; the board added that Martin wouldn’t receive benefits or severance pay. Millsap is about an hour and 20 minutes west of Dallas.

WFAA said Millsap ISD parent Carissa Cornelius on March 10 shared a video showing her 10-year-old son, Alex Cornelius — who has autism and is nonverbal — appearing to be abused by his special education teacher. The station said another teacher in the video appears to yell at Alex and throw an object at him.

The sheriff’s office said witnesses reported that “life skills” educator Paxton Kendal Bean, 25, physically assaulted juvenile students.

Paxton Kendal BeanImage source: Parker County (Tex.) Sheriff’s Office

Witnesses also said Bean — along with life skills educator Jennifer Cain Dale, 44 — committed mental and verbal abuse against special-needs elementary students, including taunting, mocking, giving threats, using profanity, and giving extensive “timeouts,” the sheriff’s office said.

A witness recorded the abuse on a cell phone and told sheriff’s investigators that she reported the alleged abuse to Martin on Feb. 19. However, the sheriff’s office said Martin did not report the suspected abuse to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services or the Parker County Sheriff’s Office as required by state law. She did contact the district’s law firm to commission an external investigation, the sheriff’s office said.

Martin on Feb. 28 filed a report with the Texas Education Agency regarding one educator, authorities said, and then on March 3 reported the allegations to the TEA involving the second educator.

“Another witness reported they advised the superintendent to report the offenses to child protective services and law enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said. “The superintendent reportedly told the witness that she had already made a report to child protective services as of Feb. 20.”

The sheriff’s office said it first learned about the allegations March 4 when a parent of one of the victims contacted the sheriff’s office to make a report. Officials from the state Department of Family and Protective Services told sheriff’s office investigators that Martin didn’t contact them — and that they first learned of the allegations from the sheriff’s office on March 4.

Bean was charged with injury to a child and official oppression, Dale was charged with official oppression, and 53-year-old Martin was charged with failure to report/intent to conceal, the sheriff’s office said.

WFAA said Millsap ISD parent Carissa Cornelius on March 10 shared a video showing her 10-year-old son, Alex Cornelius — who has autism and is nonverbal — appearing to be abused by his special education teacher. The station said another teacher in the video appears to yell at Alex and throw an object at him. Carissa Cornelius said the incident occurred Feb. 18 but that school officials didn’t notify her about the incident until Feb. 28, WFAA reported.

You can view a WFAA video report here about the allegations; it includes the in-classroom cellphone video in question.

More from the station:

The board has also approved Monday a third-party investigation into Principal Roxie Carter and Assistant Principal Drew Casey of the elementary school where the alleged abuse occurred.

Carter is related to Kendal Bean, one of the educators arrested in the case. Due to their relationship, the school board voted in favor of not assigning employees to the same campus or in an oversight position of an immediate family member.

Casey will return to work at a limited capacity while the investigation is ongoing, according to Millsap ISD. The district said this was due to “multiple requests by the public who said he had nothing to do with one of the suspects or the alleged abuse.”

According to an earlier WFAA report, Martin and Bean have bonded out of jail, but Dale was being held in the Palo Pinto County Jail on a $2,500 bond. However, Dale’s name didn’t show up on an inmate search Tuesday evening.

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