Parents blast Little Elm ISD administrators over handling of chaotic protest

LITTLE ELM, Texas - Hundreds of parents and people who live in the Denton County town of Little Elm packed an auditorium at Little Elm High School to express their frustrations over how a student protest earlier this month was handled.

Police say students assaulted officers, leading to four arrests. One student was pepper-sprayed and tased.

The superintendent called for a listening session to hear parents' concerns.

MORE: Little Elm ISD to address concerns over chaotic protest during listening session

Tuesday night’s listening session went on for about two hours.

District staff heard from dozens of speakers who addressed what they called the administration’s lack of preparation and poor handling of the situation on Nov. 19.

"You allowed our children to be tased, manhandled, arrested and jailed," said parent Keisha Sanders.

"They are traumatized," said parent Chandra Nelson.

"I want our children to get justice," said parent Deborah Crainiach. "And I want our children to be safe."

Four students were arrested during a student-led planned protest over an alleged sexual assault.

One by one, parents spoke directly to Little Elm ISD Superintendent Daniel Gallagher and other administrators.

Keisha Sanders says her daughter was one of the four arrested.

"You should be ashamed of all of yourselves," she said. "I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. My thanksgiving was ruined!"

Cell phone video shows Little Elm police officers using pepper spray and a taser on a student.

The district says that student had tried to interfere with an arrest. It says three officers were assaulted, including one who was spit on. And it says officers only got involved after students tried to break into an administrator’s office.

Four Little Elm High School students arrested during protest

Stanley Wong says his daughter wasn’t even involved in the protest but still came home shaken.

"She was shaken because she saw kids come into the band hall with pepper spray in their eyes and in their mouths," he said.

Some are angry over what they call a failure to alert parents about the severity of the incident.

"If they are sleeping in class, if they have a cell phone, you’re calling us," said parent Cynthia Hunt. "But they get arrested, there’s a riot. Nothing?"

Others are disappointed in what they call a lack of preparation for a planned protest.

"We could have had an assembly," said parent Chandra Nelson. "That was a teachable moment."

Gallagher addressed parents, reiterating his plan to move forward that he first laid out last week.

"I think it’s important that we hear the voice of our community members, our parents," he said.

The district will create a community-led committee to review the district’s sexual misconduct procedures, conduct a review of the incident and have an independent review of the sexual assault allegation that launched the protest.

Still, parents pushed back.

"I hope the committee that you pick is not cherry-picked by the best donors of little elm ISD but by real families affected by what happened last week," said parent Catherine Tate.

The district says the committee will be selected by a randomized process.

Several parents called on the district to figure out a way to rebuild trust between students and administrators. That includes possible resignations.