A U.S. Department of Justice initiative meant to prevent schools from "passing the trash" recently led to criminal charges against two educators and over $14,000 in civil penalties in a Texas district — and may eventually be scaled nationwide.
The initiative announced last week, called Project Safe Schools, is meant to reduce districts' hiring or concealment of sexual predators in schools and is a cross-agency collaboration between the Justice Department, the FBI, and other state and federal agencies.
It's currently being rolled out in North Texas, where districts have recently come under public scrutiny for their employment of alleged sex offenders, but has the potential to be implemented statewide and then on a national scale, said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.
As part of the project's rollout, the U.S. Attorney's Office urged all North Texas public schools to proactively review their reporting practices and come forward if they "knowingly concealed educator misconduct, failed to submit mandatory reports, or certified compliance inaccurately."
"We have a lot of tools at our disposal," said Ryan Raybould, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, in an interview with K-12 Dive. Raybould's office is spearheading the project. "But folks that disclose their conduct will be given a benefit, and that benefit was a little bit more of leniency as it relates to allegations, but they have to remedy it."
The first wave begins
As part of Raybould's first wave of federal crackdown, Forney Independent School District in North Texas entered into a civil settlement that included a $14,308 payment and adoption of measures meant to prevent future mandatory reporting failures by district staff.
Those settlement terms, Raybould said in an announcement last week, reflect the district's decisions to self-report and cooperate. Districts that don't do so should expect "significantly harsher consequences," he added.
Two Forney ISD staff who were allegedly involved — former special education teacher Michael Roell and former Crosby Elementary School Principal Wendy Bailey — are also facing federal charges for intending to conceal records showing that Roell was an alleged child sex offender and abuser.
According to sealed court documents provided to K-12 Dive, Roell broke an autistic student's arm when working for Texas' Garland Independent School District between 2012 and either late 2015 or early 2016. He was also charged with indecency with a child in Dallas County in June 2016 after being accused of touching a student in the groin area and watching the student use the restroom.
After being fired by Garland ISD, Roell spent six years in the hospice and healthcare industry before being hired by Dallas ISD in 2022. He was denied employment by Plano ISD in 2024 due to a sexual misconduct complaint and then hired by Forney ISD in October 2025 after changing his legal name, which Bailey had knowledge of and suggested, the court documents show.
"I truly feel for you and the position you have been put in," Bailey messaged Roell during his application process with the district. "Definitely explore the name change route!”
By December 2025, while working for Forney ISD, another employee "began noticing what they described as inappropriate behavior between Roell and special needs students." By January of this year, Roell faced allegations of assaulting a student in a classroom.
By April 2026, less than a year after Roell was hired, at least two Forney ISD employees reported concerns about his "inappropriate behavior" to Bailey, including a video documenting the behavior.
"At some point between October 2025 and April 2026, ROELL physically abused multiple special needs students and sexually abused at least one special needs student," the complaint says. "The investigation thus far revealed that, despite receiving reports of this abuse, BAILEY failed to report the abuse as required by Texas state law."
Bailey didn't report Roell's record to the Forney district office, the Texas Education Agency, or the the State Board for Educator Certification, Forney ISD said in an Aug. 25 statement to K-12 Dive.
The U.S. Attorney's Office cracked down on Forney ISD under the False Claims Act, saying it wrongly certified that it was in compliance with mandatory reporting laws when applying for federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The settlement was announced Aug. 18.
In addition, criminal charges against Bailey and Roell were filed Aug. 14.
In its Aug. 25 statement to K-12 Dive, Forney ISD said it was cooperating with the multiple agencies involved and that its decision to enter into a settlement agreement did not reflect an admission of liability. Rather, it said, it entered into the agreement "in an effort to save taxpayer dollars and keep funding in classrooms for students.
"The behaviors by Bailey and Michael/Roell as alleged by the DOJ in the agreement are completely unacceptable," said Kristin Zastoupil, a Forney ISD spokesperson. "The behaviors described do not meet the high standards the District sets for staff, and will not be tolerated in Forney ISD."
Both Bailey and Roell were previously coworkers when employed for Garland ISD, which was the subject of a federal civil rights investigation that concluded in 2023 and found the district regularly delayed its duties in cases of Title IX investigations. Title IX is the federal civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination — including sexual harassment, abuse and rape — in school settings.
Garland ISD was one of many school systems nationwide that contributed to a cycle of failing to protect students' civil rights, including delaying or failing entirely to conduct Title IX investigations.
More attorneys interested in adoption
As part of Project Safe Schools, Raybould said agencies will crack down on districts that conduct "sloppy" investigations or investigations that are "catered toward minimizing civil liability," as well as those that:
- Sign non-disclosure agreements to conceal employees' wrongdoing.
- Failing to report under mandatory reporting requirements.
- Pass the trash to another district after an employee's misconduct is realized.
Marie Ferguson, spokesperson for Raybould's office, said, "The ultimate goal is to expand Project Safe Schools to every judicial district, with each U.S. Attorney’s Office designating two coordinators — one criminal and one civil — to lead enforcement and compliance efforts."
Raybould said his call for districts to self-report has led to an outpouring of reports from the general public. He's also had phone calls with other federal attorneys interested in rolling out the initiative in their respective jurisdictions and has received support from the U.S. Department of Education.
"I'm just going as fast as I can, full steam ahead to protect kids in North Texas and show a roadmap for success in protecting kids, and hopefully this leads to a nationwide rollout," Raybould said. "And hopefully, this encourages further changes in the law to make it harder on criminals and to improve reporting and improve transparency and end the practice of passing the trash."
The Education Department sent a Dear Colleague letter to states and districts in July reminding them of their responsibilities to protect students rather than engaging in the practice of passing the trash, which it called “a troubling and recurring pattern in schools” nationwide.
“Sexual predators who operate within the walls of American schools depend on institutional silence and complacency,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the July 10 letter. “Unfortunately, many administrators and State educational regulators have apparently preferred to sweep these incidents under the rug and have ‘pass[ed] the trash’ to another school.”
The department also announced it was opening 20 targeted investigations into schools suspected of passing the trash based on their responses to the 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection.
A report released by the Education Department in 2022 showed that while all states require prospective employers to conduct criminal background checks on educators, only 27 require employers to also check applicants’ employment history, eligibility and disciplinary status.
Of those 27 states, only 19 require employers to request information like personnel files and employment history from applicants’ current and former employers prior to hiring. And only 11 of the 27 require applicants to share any history regarding investigations or disciplinary actions related to sexual abuse or misconduct.
