Dallas ISD trustee Bernadette Nutall
Updated at 2:24 p.m.: DISD spokesman Andre Riley emailed this comment: “The board and superintendent are continuing to have the important discussion about where to draw the line between governance and management. Those discussions will not distract us from the important work that we are charged to do: continue to prepare all students for college and their careers.”
Riley said district administrators had not seen a copy of Nutall’s complaint.
The DA’s Office did receive the complaint, spokeswoman Debbie Denmon said Friday afternoon. “We are in the process of reviewing it,” she said.
Original post: Dallas ISD trustee Bernadette Nutall has filed a criminal complaint with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office over being forcibly removed from Dade Middle School earlier this month.
Nutall contends that Superintendent Mike Miles committed “official oppression” when he had DISD police officers remove her from the South Dallas school on Oct. 13.
Under the Texas penal code, official oppression by a public servant can include one who “intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful.”
It is not known whether the District Attorney’s office will accept the case and forward it to a grand jury for review.
Nutall confirmed the filing with the DA’s office. She had no additional comment.
Nutall said she went to Dade to see what was going on after Miles replaced the principal, two assistant principals and 10 teachers. The school has had four principals in two years – three of them placed there by Miles.
Miles has said changes had to be made immediately because very little teaching was occurring. He had planned a 6:30 a.m. staff meeting the day Nutall went to Dade. He has said that it was the first meeting for the new group and not the time for a trustee to be present.
Nutall has said that she decided not to attend the meeting when she learned Miles would be leading it. She said she was leaving Dade when she met Miles in the main entrance. She said he asked her to leave and accused her of trespassing. When she refused to leave, he had three officers put her out, she said.
A video of the incident shows two police officers, each holding one of Nutall’s arms, physcially remove her from the school. Another officer appears to be holding the door as she’s taken through it. Miles can be seen looking on.
The issue has caused unrest among some in the Dallas community. Some residents showed up at a DISD school board meeting last week and demanded that Miles resign. Their continuous chants for his resignation prompted Board President Miguel Solis to recess the meeting for several minutes to gain control.
Dallas ISD trustees have met in closed session to discuss roles and duties in response to the incident. Solis said the board would continue having discussions to determine the lines of governance and management and to prevent such an incident from happening again. He said the next discussion will be in open session.
Staff writer Holly K. Hacker contributed to this post.