Education
BY WESLEY GARDNER
Humble ISD trustees received a breakdown of the roughly $1.8 million the district has spent in legal fees related to former Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen’s firing and the Title IX investigation into her husband, former HISD Athletic Director Troy Kite. Some context Trustees received the breakdown during the board’s Feb. 18 meeting—about one week after Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath denied Fagen’s final appeal of her firing. Among the chief arguments presented by board members for Fagen’s firing was the notion that the district was forced to hire an outside legal firm to investigate the original Title IX complaint filed Humble ISD’s outside legal fees surpass $1.8M
against Kite due to his relationship with Fagen. In his Feb. 4 decision, Morath sided with the dis- trict in its claim that obtaining outside legal coun- sel was necessary to conduct the investigation. What trustees are saying Trustee Robert Scarfo, who was cleared of any wrongdoing alleged in a Title IX complaint filed against him by Kite, defended the spending. “[We] had two administrative law judges and the independent decision maker telling us the actual reason why we incurred over $1.8 million in expenses that we should not have had to [spend],” Scarfo said. However, trustee Robert Sitton claimed the district was already aware of details revealed from Kite’s Title IX investigation before the district opted to hire an outside legal firm. “Someone is going to have to really convince me that we needed to spend $1.9 million to find out what we already knew,” Sitton said. Scarfo disagreed, noting the investigation revealed details pertaining to Fagen’s treatment of Kite that had previously gone unnoticed.
Humble ISD’s outside legal fees Legal fees related to investigations and Fagen’s appeals have risen to more than $1.83 million.
$2M
$266,209.42 General legal fees $1,030,138.77 Title IX-related fees $260,540.16 Appeal-related fees $179,466.26 Public information requests related to investigations $55,146.90 Costs associated with TEA complaints Employment Opportunity Commission matters $10,212.50 Costs associated with U.S. Office for Civil Rights complaints $30,659.83 U.S. Equal
$1.5M
$1M
$500K
$0
SOURCE: HUMBLE ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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