A school district and local prosecutors in Texas are refusing to drop charges against an 11-year-old boy, who had repeatedly asked his principal for counseling and was then arrested and held in solitary confinement.
Following the death of his father, Timothy Murray reportedly irked Palm Grove Elementary principal Myrta Garza so much with his requests, as well as questions about school dress code, that she called Brownsville Independent School District police.
Officers detained the boy and placed him in solitary confinement for three days at the Darrell B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center. Cameron County prosecutors argued for charges of “terroristic threat.”
Despite being accused of ignoring Texas laws which require parental involvement before such interventions, Cameron County District Attorney Rene Garza told a hearing Wednesday that his office was gathering further evidence against Murray, rather than deciding to drop the charges.
Murray had transferred schools after an original incident, from Palm Grove to Canales Elementary – where Garza was in charge until earlier this year.
On Dec. 5, administrators, who had worked alongside Principal Garza, sought to file further charges against Murray of aggravated assault. He allegedly pulled another student’s hair and tried to cut his finger with scissors, which Murray apologized for and said he had mimed cutting the boy’s paper, not his finger.
The boy told the Texas Observer that he thought the incident was dealt with, but the next day he was pulled into the Assistant Principal’s office, again without the involvement of his mother.
“It looked like most of the administration was there except for the people I trusted. Then the police officer came in, and he started touching his handcuffs,” Timothy told the outlet. “I kinda panicked and said, ‘I will not continue this conversation without my mother present.’”
He then asked for his mother to be called to come and pick him up. At his hearing Wednesday, the judge said Murray could be homeschooled.
“Parents have a right to be involved if a child is being considered for a threat assessment,” State Representative Penny Morales Shaw, who cosponsored the legislation requiring parental involvement, told the outlet. “The law should be posted on every entrance of a school in the lobby so that parents are aware of their rights.”
Other parents raise concerns about Principal Garza
The Observer reported that Garza was principal at Canales from 2018 to 2023, before her removal by district Superintendent Rene Gutierrez. She still remains in position at Palm Grove.
Other parents have also complained to the outlet about the principal. One mother said that, after a meeting with Garza about her 5-year-old in which her own mom questioned the school’s special education plan for the boy, Garza called Child Protective Services on her.
“About 24 to 48 hours after that meeting, I got a knock on my door from CPS, saying I was neglecting my child,” Andrea Ramos told the Observer. She was later cleared of any neglect.
Other parents allege a lack of action when their child was being bullied or assaulted, or seeing Garza scream at children and parents.
Data from Brownsville ISD seen by The Observer showed its officers made 3,102 student arrests between May 2021 and Nov. 2023. Nearly 60% of those were on felony charges and 76 of those kids were in elementary school.
The Messenger approached Brownsville Independent School District for further comment but did not immediately receive a response. The District Attorney’s office refused to comment.
Murray’s next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 2024.
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It sounds like the school needs a new principal. Parents should always be called first.
Sounds to me like the entire school admin need replacing with people with common scence, a very unlikely thing in todays world. What is the boy charged with anyway? What sort of loose cannon occupies the prosacuters office?