Corrupt Red Oak ISD

Our laywer received a letter from Coach Burrow's attorney demanding we take her name off this site. Our response was to buy more advertising in the Ellis County Chronicle. The 1st ammendment applies in Ellis County as it does the rest of the country.

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Another traffic enforcement Scandal with the Red Oak, Texas Police Department

Pam was stopped for speeding on May 21, 2009 by Red Oak PD Sergeant Langham. When Langham advised her she had been speeding, Pam said she should have known better because her husband is a police officer. Our 15 year old daughter was in the car with Pam. Langham asked Pam where I worked and she told him. Langham told her he was going to write her a citation, but that he would put his cell phone number on the ticket and told her to have me call him that evening. When Langham came back to Pam's car with the citation, Pam asked how much the ticket would cost, and Langham told her that if I called him, she wouldn't have to worry about it.

When Pam later told me what had happened, and showed me her copy of the citation with a phone number hand written across the top of it, I immediately became suspicious.

As is referenced elsewhere on this site, Sgt Langham's boss, Chief Craig Rudolph, was willing to come after my job with ROISD PD Chief Scott Lindsey after Lindsey forwarded him an email Lindsey received from a private investigator that advised Lindsey I attempted to hire him to investigate Lindsey. Lindsey subsequently filed a false and libelous complaint against me that accused me of the criminal act of Stalking. Lindsey's complaint, which was rejected, is posted on this website.

I had a previous encounter with Sgt Langham on December 9, 2006 at the Red Oak Christmas parade.

That incident, also chronicled elsewhere on this site, was when the booster club mothers attempted to have me arrested. Langham was the first officer they approached, and after talking to them Langham confronted me, indicated he knew I was a police officer and asked if I was armed. When I told Langham I was, he disarmed me in front of the crowd, and when I asked him if I was under arrest, he stated not "yet." The final report generated over that incident is in the documents section of this site, and specifically states no offense had been committed, yet Langham chose this course of action when contacting me. After it was over, rumors spread that I had been brandishing a gun at the parade, because the onlookers had observed Langham disarm me.

Pam filed a complaint about Langham's conduct to Chief Rudolph, and I voiced my concerns over the possibility that Langham could have been setting me up to ask that the ticket be dismissed. THE COMPLAINT IS NOT ABOUT THE ISSUANCE OF THE TICKET, IT IS ABOUT LANGHAM'S CONDUCT. ALTHOUGH HIS BEHAVIOR WAS OUTRAGEOUS, IT WAS EXACERBATED BY THE FACT THAT HIS ACTIONS WERE COMMITTED IN FRONT OF OUR DAUGHTER.

In a letter dated June 12, 2009:

2009-06-12 Letter from ROPD

Chief Craig Rudolph states "The conduct of Sgt. Langham is not in line with departmental policy and cannot and will not be tolerated. This administration will not tolerate even minimal improper action by its personnel. Prompt disciplinary action has been taken against Sgt. Langham for his conduct."

While the talk sounded tough in Rudolph's letter, we noticed the glaring omission of what type of disciplinary action Langham received, and we saw no references in the letter to allay any concerns I have over being set up.

We filed an open records request, with 5 questions asked; any evidence that the possibility an entrapment had been investigated, the punishment Langham had received, if Langham had been working a federal overtime grant at the time of the stop, a copy of Langham's statement given during this investigation, and evidence a review of possible criminal violations could have been committed by Langham during this incident.

We received a letter from the city's law firm that was dated June 18, 2009:

2009-06-18 Letter from Attorney General

This letter is addressed to the Office of the Attorney General. In this letter, there is an admission that there was no investigation of entrapment so no documents exist.

This letter says all statements made by Langham were verbal, so no documents exist, and the letter references our 5th question, asking if the possibility of criminal violations could have occurred, and again the answer is there was 'discussion only" so no documents exist.

The City challenges us on request #2, wanting to withhold the punishment Langham received (or didn't).

The question that begs to be asked here, is, why is a police investigation into possible corruption conducted verbally? Why are there no documents? An axiom of government is, if its not documented it didn't happen—what are they afraid of? Why isn't Rudolph open and transparent with this?

Although I'm still suspicious, what if Langham wasn't trying to set me up but was just going to offer the "professional courtesy" he certainly didn't demonstrate on December 9, 2006? Professional courtesy would have been not to write the ticket, not offer to "fix" it before he even filled it out. What was he going to do if I would have called him? Was he going to tear it up, destroying a governmental document? Was he going to perjure himself in court, or just not answer a subpoena to traffic court?

Langham is a sergeant with the Red Oak PD, and Rudolph is the Chief—if the two colluded to bury this, does that not indicate a culture of corruption at the top of the ROPD? There are many fine street officers on the ROPD, what sort of conditions are they forced to work under? Is Langham under a ticket quota, as has been alleged before against the ROPD, so he's writing tickets to show productivity yet dismissing them on the side?

I've informed Red Oak Mayor Hugley about this via email (which he doesn't seem to have the courage to answer) and in person during a chance encounter at a local business.

Is this whole town corrupt? A friend of mine, trying to wrap his mind around all of this, expressed his thought that my problem was with the school district, not the city. That is how it started out, but with Lindsey's email he invited Rudoph into this, and Rudolph willingly accepted. Like I explained to my friend, although the city and school district are separate governmental entities, because of the politically incestuous nature of this town those that run things are intertwined.

Offering to fix a ticket before it's even written is dirty. Covering up for it after the fact is dirty. The city of Red Oak has hired outside investigators in the past to look into it's dealings. Perhaps it's time to ask for another outside review.

If Mayor Hugley wants to be open and above board with this, I will gladly accept an invitation to speak at a Red Oak city council meeting. The only condition I put on this offer is that the meeting be open to the press and the public. I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting on the invitation.

The Soviet Union was a stronger believer in open and transparant goverment than the ROISD Board

We met with the ROISD Board on June 1, 2009. All Board members were present. Our meeting was the culmination of the 3 step complaint process. Our complaint was two fold: that Lindsey had been denigrating me on public emails; and that Lindsey failed to investigate allegations brought against a ROISD PD officer that left employment in January 2009.

We've addressed Lindsey's email slam campaign elsewhere on this site; the ROISD PD officer left after the issue was raised that he was working as a private investigator sitting up on a man inside a bar in NE Dallas, waiting for him to leave, then stopping the individual posing as a concerned off duty ROISD police officer. The former ROISD officer had been hired by the man's wife due to a divorce issue. When on duty Dallas police arrived, it was determined that the citizen was not DWI. When I first brought the incident to the attention of the District, before the entire scam was known, the officer generated a weak statement to Lindsey that a child would have questioned. Lindsey accepted the letter and justified the officer's actions; Lindsey went so far as to excuse the fact that the ROISD officer had emergency lights in his personal vehicle. Our question was, and is, what did Lindsey know and when did he know what this officer was doing? Lindsey has a record of failing to investigate and covering up incidents brought to his attention.

We first met with Assistant Superintendent Humphrey, and as our complaints weren't resolved at that level we then moved on to level 2, which was Assistant Superintendent Russ Schupmann's jurisdiction. Schupmann refused to meet me at a time when I didn't have to take off work, so he had his level 2 meeting alone!

When we arrived for our Board meeting, we were told we had 10 minutes to speak, and the Board would ask us no questions, and we could not ask them anything. Before the meeting even got underway, it was obvious that it was a sham, that the Board was seated just so they could say they went through the motions. We spoke without a prepared statement, and at one point I looked at Board President John Hawkins and asked him (rhetorically I suppose, since we weren't allowed to question Royalty) if he wanted to know what an ROISD officer was doing while carrying the District's commission. Hawkins just gave me a blank look without a reply. We expressed our concern that there were many questions about this former officer's conduct, and it was obvious they just didn't care. I told them what I thought of Lindsey denigrating me on public emails, and reminded them that when Lindsey came after my job with a false complaint they excused that by saying he did it on his own time, but when he's caught sending emails on District equipment and time that is Freedom of Speech (which was the conclusion of Schupmann's solo "meeting").

After our time was up, 10 minutes was allowed for rebuttal. ROISD PD CHIEF SCOTT LINDSEY DID NOT APPEAR AT THE MEETING. Either Lindsey was too cowardly to attend, or the Board didn't want him there. Whichever thought one takes, it's pathetic that Lindsey wasn't there. Assistant Superintendent Schupmann carried Lindsey's water for him, and read from a prepared statement.

Schupmann stated that if a criminal offense had been committed in Dallas by the former ROISD officer, it would be up to the Dallas PD to investigate. Ironically, sitting on the Board listening to this is a Dallas PD Sergeant assigned to Criminal Intelligence.

Shupmann read his statement with the passion and fervor of a Pentecostal preacher; Shupmann defended Lindsey against all allegations, and at one point, stated openly and unequivocally that I have "followed" ROISD employees. I have never followed any ROISD employee. We filed an open records request asking for any evidence Shupmann has to support this claim, and as illustrated in the District's response they have none.

2009-06-18 Deron Robinson Letter

After Schupmann spewed his venom the Board went into closed session to discuss the matter. The whole thing was such a dog and pony show that we left before they came back out. The Board told us they would advise us of their findings, and as of this date June 21, 20 days later, we haven't heard from them. It doesn't take a fortune teller to predict their "findings." We asked for a copy of the speech Schupmann read, and as the letter indicates to the Attorney General they are fighting us over it, characterizing the rebuttal as an "evaluation." The District often runs for cover to their law firm at the taxpayer's expense.

We are supporters of the First Amendment, which we've exercised by creating this site. The First Amendment is exercised when Lindsey runs his mouth to his little sycophants; when a Board member's wife gossips about me to a friend at a volleyball game, or when some good ol' boys are standing around the barbecue grill at a Lion's Club function.

When local governmental employees, under color and authority of their positions, use government equipment and time to attack and slash a critic's reputation that is not freedom of speech, that is authoritarianism. If employees of this District can successfully dismiss us as malcontents, obsessive, or stalkers, then they have succeeded in quashing our message. That ain't gonna happen, as we are none of those things; we are determined citizens pushing for an open and honest investigation into issues that we've raised, and we've done so without lying, cheating, or hiding behind taxpayer funded law firms.

When our conflict started with the District, we at first thought it was just a few employees at the ROISD Junior High. Then we learned about Lindsey, who is at the very least incompetent and at the worst corrupt, unfit to collect $67,000 a year, a higher salary than any teacher in the District. The cover ups and corruption go way beyond Lindsey. It starts with Board President John Hawkins and works its way down. That entire Board knows everything we know, and they have done nothing. When we first brought the problems our daughter had to their attention, they refused to discipline the coach, who was instrumental in driving our daughter out of the District. When we went back and advised Hawkins that she had altered a document to change the course of our grievance, Hawkins took no action and the coach wasn't even removed from her coaching position.

We named this site corruptredoakisd.com instead of poorjohnsons.com because we found a pattern of cover ups, inattention, and outright lies from top employees and elected officials of this District. Although some of this has spilled into city government, our attention is still on the District. We just spent $155 to renew this site for another year, and we intend to get our money's worth. We're sure this bumbling District will continue providing us issues.

More...

Overview

My daughter, Ryann Johnson, is a former Red Oak Junior High School (ROJHS) cheerleader. After her treatment at the hands of some of her teammates, and the faculty of the junior high, my daughter left the school and is now enrolled elsewhere.

Ryann endured a vicious MySpace attack from a teammate, witnessed her coach take the side of the aggressor, and experienced a cavalier school board that allowed the probationary coach to renew her contract.

Along the way, an official document was tampered with, and the Red Oak ISD and Police Chief refused to do a thorough investigation.

Read on ....

This website was created to chronicle the hostile environment my daughter was subjected to at Red Oak Junior High, and to expose the corruption and ineptitude of the Red Oak Junior High, starting with my daughter's former coach, June Burrow, and ending with the Red Oak ISD school board.

My family is not anti law enforcement nor anti education. I'm a police officer; I started my law enforcement career in 1979 in Decatur, Illinois and have had an unblemished LE career for over 28 years, covering two states. My wife, Pam, has been a full time teacher herself since 1981.

My daughter was accepted on the ROJHS cheerleading team for the 2006-2007 school year.

It didn't even start with the girls!

The groundwork was probably laid for the coming storm when, in late June 2006 my wife Pam had a conflict with a former friend and vice president of the cheerleading booster club.

Bad adult attitude rubs off

The booster club's vice president's daughter and my daughter, Ryann, had been friends, but after a terse email was exchanged between the two girls, the booster club vice president decided that Pam had authored the email that Ryann sent to her daughter. After the confilct, when fall came and school started, cliques were formed and my daughter wasn't part of the "cool" group. This was fine with me, as I've often told Ryann she may be a cheerleader in Texas, but she's not a "Texas cheerleader."

Unprofessional actions on the part of an educator

During the fall, Ryann often came home complaining about the treatment she received at school and the environment of the cheerleading squad. Pam and I repeatedly told Ryann to deal with it, recognizing that as Ryann gets older, she may face far worse adversities in her life.

Things were getting worse for Ryann, as the coach continually ignored the treatment Ryann received at the hands of the "cool group." Two of those in the preferred group were the daughters of the booster club president, and as referred to earlier, the booster club vice president.

The problem came to its boiling point in late November, when I attended a basketball game to watch Ryann cheer. Ryann came to me in tears, and told me that at lunchtime some students at her lunch table wouldn't let her sit down where she normally sits. This group included a football player related to the booster club president.

Parental request ignored

After Ryann told me what had happened, I confronted the coach, Burrow, who was at the game, and told her in no uncertain terms that she needed to get her team in order. Burrow feigned ignorance, pretending she didn't know the tremendous pressure Ryann had been under at the hands of her teammates.

Conduct unbecoming an educator

A day later, we got a tip that one of the girls on the team and in the clique had created a MySpace page where she had posted derogatory statement against Ryann. The girl on MySpace was presented wearing her Red Oak Junior High cheerleading uniform, calling my daughter out in a conversation in which she referred to my daughter as a "biotch" (urban slang for bitch), a "hoe" (urban slang for whore), and a "nikka" (urban slang for the "N" word). The MySpace exchange was laced with profanities, sexual innuendo, and written in the way one speaks urban ghetto hip hop.

I took a copy of the MySpace page and met with then principal Morris Watson. While waiting outside Watson's office, coach June Burrow happened to come into the reception area. I showed her the MySpace page one of her favorites on the team had created. Burrow expressed indifference, and I recall asking her, at the time, how the black kids on the team she cheers for would feel about the words used on the website page.

Chain of command shirks duty

My meeting with Watson didn't go well. Upon leaving, I felt like he wasn't going to take any action. I insisted that the girl who wrote the things on her MySpace page be kicked off the team. The contract signed by the cheerleaders stated, "Any cheerleader verbally or physically abusing a student or faculty member will face immediate dismissal from the team." The contract signed by the cheerleaders also states, "If any member is dismissed from or quits the team, they will be subject to ineligibility the following year." This clause is important and comes back later.

It takes time not to find a loophole!

Since the cheerleader contract specifically called for dismissal, the cheerleader had to be dismissed from the team. Burrows and Watson, however, waited 8 days to take her off the team, and on December 7, finally enforced the contract and told the girl she had to leave the team. June Burrow allowed the girl to participate in team pictures before dismissing her from the team. After the girl was finally removed, she was invited by Burrow to the awards banquet! Inviting this girl to the banquet, in my opinion, was to prolong the hostile environment my daughter was subjected to. Burrow also, by inviting the girl to the banquet, violated the student code of conduct, that states, "a student who has been suspended from extra curricular activity events may practice or rehearse, but not participate in games or events." According to our attorney, the booster club banquet, sanctioned by the school district, is most certainly an event. Dismissed should mean dismissed!

Biased news representation exacerbates situation

The situation only got worse for Ryann after the girl was dismissed from the team. The very next day December 8, the girl's parents got on FOX 4 News. The father of the dismissed cheerleader, in a telecast interview, said his daughter didn't post the statement on the MySpace website, claiming the family was out of town. The father also stated that someone had gotten his daughter's password and posted the statements. Ironically, on the MySpace page, the girl in conversation states, " I kno....darnet Im at my cusins house right now...but we r gunna hang out sum tyme nxt weekend no matter what". Anyone with computer knowledge knows one doesn't have to be home to access their computer page, but in Red Oak politics and social circles, truth doesn't matter. The girl's family, to my knowledge, never filed a formal protest challenging their daughter's dismissal; instead, they resorted to character assassination of my daughter. After the interview given on FOX, the dismissed cheerleader went to school and blamed my daughter for hacking her MySpace account and writing the sentences herself that got the girl kicked off. The rumor spread like wildfire and my daughter paid one hell of a price.

After complaining to FOX News about their biased, one sided reporting that gave the dismissed cheerleader's father a platform to spout off with no documentation, proof or even questioning, Rebecca Aguilar of FOX News came with a cameraman in January to interview Ryann.

Aguilar spent at least 2 hours at our home, and conducted a lengthy filmed interview with Ryann.

Aguilar had mentioned that she had placed a call to the dismissed cheerleader's father.

As Aguilar and her cameraman were leaving, Aguilar said the interview would be televised at 5:00 pm that same evening.

At nearly straight up 5:00 PM, Aguilar called and stated that the dismissed cheerleader's father had returned her call. Aguilar then advised me that the interview would not be aired after all that night, and cited liability concerns!

Aguilar stalled when asked later when the story would be aired. The interview with Ryann Johnson was NEVER AIRED!

"Fair and Balanced" FOX News had no concerns about liability when conducting the interview with the dismissed cheerleader's father, but suddenly went wobbly over presenting the other side. I have a personal theory as why this played out like it did, but I'll refrain for now from giving my opinion.

Coach out of control

On December 9, 2006, the ROJHS cheerleaders had to participate in the Red Oak holiday parade. The girls on the team had to ride in a parade, then perform a cheer, and then work in shifts in a face painting booth.

During the parade, as the girls passed the dismissed cheerleader in the crowd, they yelled out, "We love you ------. This was done from the float, in full view of coach June Burrow, who did nothing to stop it. This was done to pledge fealty to the relieved cheerleader, and to intimidate my daughter. When the girls lined up to do their cheer, again they pledged their love for ------ quite loudly, in front of Burrow, with no action taken.

My daughter began her shift afterward in the face painting booth. The vice president of the booster club, the dismissed cheerleader and her mother, and the mob of pro ------ girls barged in. There was no reason for them all to come in because their shift had not yet stated. Their intent was to further intimidate my daughter and keep her down. I stood outside, looking in the window, watching as the mob went to a second face painter, in full view of my daughter, and demanded their faces be painted with, "I love you ------," on them. One girl went to my daughter to insist this also be painted on her face. It sickened me as a father to see this. The pain was exacerbated by the fact that coach June Burrow watched and did nothing to stop it. Her inaction encouraged the taunting behavior.

It doesn't pay to be nice

I entered the booth to speak to Ryann, and made eye contact with the booster club vice president, a former friend of Pam's. I reminded her how my family had spent $2,000 last Christmas to help them through a family crisis, thus I was dumbfounded at her current treatment of my daughter.

The booster club vice president, with emboldening from the booster club president, went to Red Oak police officers to file a complaint against me. My crime was reminding her of last Christmas. Knowing I'm a cop, it broke Ryann's heart to see the police called on me. Had coach June Burrow controlled that room and the parade, the situation wouldn't have spiraled downward. I was approached by a Red Oak cop, asked if I was armed, and my weapon was taken in full view of the participants of the festivities. The vice president didn't have the courage to tell the police what I had said. Since there was no crime committed, I was released. As a veteran officer myself, I was embarrassed and humiliated by the treatment of the Red Oak police, but that pain is nothing compared to watching my daughter so upset because she thought her Daddy was going to jail.

Many negative things happened to Ryann in the aftermath of the parade. Pam and I took our grievances through 3 tiers of complaint, culminating in a meeting with the school board.

We laid the entire problem out for the board; excerpts of that meeting are on this site. One of our contentions was that the constitution to be followed, that the dismissed cheerleader not be allowed to return to the team next year, per the constitution she signed.

In the follow up phone call to ROISD board president John Hawkins, I pointedly asked if the constitution would be followed; if the girl was prohibited from returning to the team. Hawkins said the constitution didn't prohibit her return. I argued that the signed constitution did, remembering the operative sentence in the document that states, "If any member is dismissed from or quits the team, they will be subject ineligibility to try out the following year." After my conversation with Hawkins, and doing some research, I discovered that on January 22, 2007, at the height of our complaints with the district, coach June Burrow altered the constitution, taking out the sentence, "If any member is dismissed from or quits the team, they will be subject to ineligibility to try out the following year"!

The school board is fully aware that Burrow altered this document. Burrow was a probationary teacher, yet the school board did nothing to stop her contract from being renewed. In fact, Burrow signed on again as cheerleading coach for the 2007-2008 school year!

Four days after the meeting, Principal Watson submitted his resignation, effective at the end of the year.

Some justice at last

The school board went back, researched the constitution that the cheerleaders signed, and then decreed that she is ineligible for the team next year. The school board is aware of what this coach did—but took no action against her.

The Texas Penal Code, 37.10 defines Tampering with a Governmental Record. The statute is clear, that to altar said record with the intent to harm or defraud is a felony. I contacted ROISD Police Chief Scott Lindsey about the offense, as it occurred under his jurisdiction. Lindsey did an investigation by calling the Ellis County District Attorney. Lindsey framed his questions as he saw fit. No statements were taken from any witnesses; the documents weren't presented to the DA. Nothing but some inconsequential conversation and the "investigation" was closed. Never in over 20 years of police work have I seen such a cavalier, shoddy attitude over a potential FELONY!

Why do we need a DA?

The Ellis County DA won't take "walk in" complaints. After some conversation with the DA's office, it's clear they have a preconceived notion over what happened, and refuse at this point to take a complaint. I don't know what Lindsey told them, but at this writing, they are closed to looking at the issue.

On Saturday, July 21, Burrow held a meeting and announced that she will no longer be the cheerleading coach. This is good, but not good enough.

I have lodged a public corruption complaint with the FBI.

This leads to several questions.

   • Why is June Burrow still on the ROISD payroll?
   • What she did was reprehensible and unethical. If she willingly changed a constitution, what else will she change?
   • Why does Scott Lindsey hold police authority, considering how he handled this "investigation"?
   • What kind of behavior example are these educators providing for our youth?
   • Why do officials continue to ignore such blatant treatment from one student toward another student?
   • Why has no one apologized to my daughter, Ryann, for failing to do their job?

What's best...

In the aftermath of this nightmare, we've taken Ryann out of ROISD and put her in another school, where she had to start over and make new friends.

I have provided documentation on this website to confirm my allegations, from correspondence with the district, to Burrow's own pathetic excuse regarding her changing of the document, which she did to favor one child over another. Also posted on this website, in his own words, is "officer" Lindsey's investigation.

I will add to this website as time permits. I welcome any correspondence and will answer any questions.