Parents speak out after ILTexas teacher accused of misconduct toward students

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Following KBTX's report Monday about an ILTexas teacher accused of misconduct with students, school administrators sent an email to parents Wednesday evening about the incident.

ILTexas said in a statement that teacher Antonio Hernandez resigned in April after being accused of discussing a student's body.

In the email, the school said student safety was its “top priority,” but one ILTexas parent expressed a desire for more transparency.

“When a situation like this occurs, it's in the children's best interest to notify the parents so they can talk to their children. Because what if there are two or three other children out there?” asked Anthony Strange.

Strange has several children who attend the charter school, and he said he has considered pulling them out of the school. He said his children love their school, but he wants the school administration to take responsibility and make a change.

“I think parents need to be told right away that there is a problem on campus. That should happen on day one,” said Judy LeUnes, a retired teacher with decades of experience.

LeUnes said in situations involving student safety, transparency is key.

“Kids talk, parents talk, other teachers talk and everything gets mixed up and changed and things like that. So it's not really fair to anyone,” she added.

However, according to Strange, parents were not informed of the situation with Hernandez until Wednesday via email.

“My daughter was in sixth grade last year and had the same teacher as her teacher. We were never notified when the teacher was placed on leave. We were never notified,” he said.

According to school officials, Hernandez was placed on leave on April 17 and resigned less than a week later. In May, his teaching contract was not renewed.

In early August, Superintendent Eddie Conger announced the official resignation.

Strange said he wanted to see change above all else.

“If you put processes in place and they are not followed, it doesn't matter. That's not real change. At that point, it's just a piece of paper,” he said.

Below is the email ILTexas parents received from Superintendent Conger on August 28 regarding the situation.

Hello folks,

I want to apologize to you for raising questions in August about a teacher we interacted with in April. The fact is that two students reported that the teacher said, “Look at (the students') butts.” The teacher was placed on leave on April 17. The teacher resigned on April 23, 2024. We reported this to the Texas Education Agency on May 6 out of an abundance of caution and continued our internal investigation even though the teacher had resigned. In May, we also notified CPS out of an abundance of caution that students reported that a teacher said, “Look at (the students') butts.”

Although the teacher resigned on April 23, we continued our internal investigation and I signed the final document of the investigation on August 3, ordering the teacher's termination and not accepting the resignation. On August 12, we submitted the final report to the Texas Education Agency and they have our full internal investigation on file.

The safety of our children is my highest priority and our teachers know that there must not be even the slightest appearance of inappropriate behavior or inappropriate language.

I will accept nothing less. But folks, I also want you to know that we have many, many incredibly amazing teachers who work extremely hard to teach and care for our children.

Parents, please encourage your teachers and if you ever hear or see anything, please email the principal and [email protected], which goes exclusively to the Superintendent's office.

Thank you very much and have a nice rest of your evening.

Eddie Conger
Founder & Superintendent
International Leadership of Texas

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