05/21/2008 - ROISD PD squad car at the First Baptist Church—round two

On May 21, 2008, I drove by the First Baptist Church at about 6:45 PM. Lo and behold, there sat the same ROISD PD squad car, with the same license plate, that I saw sitting at the church on May 7, 2008. I wonder if this is an every Wednesday hook-up.

Click image for more detail.

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.

All this and Ryann did nothing wrong!