Dallas Parents Upset Over Hiring of alleged Racist Principal

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

A group of Latino parents in Dallas backed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is fighting the hiring of Kamalia Cotton,  a suburban elementary principal, who has been involved in the mistreatment of Hispanic students at a previous school.

LULAC joined a campaign opposing the hiring of Kamalia Cotton by the Lancaster school system, which overlooked the allegations of discrimination by Latino parents at a nearby Dallas school.

Those families had included undocumented immigrants who said they feared deportation if they complained about alleged mistreatment.

“[Kamalia Cotton] created a very, very hostile and toxic environment against parents and kids,” said LULAC regional director Rene Martinez, who retired last summer from the Dallas school district as a community outreach coordinator. “The parents in Lancaster got a raw deal in getting someone like her. Our children deserve better.

“This woman was allowing teachers to abuse, degrade, and bully children. She was arrogant and condescending with Latino parents. In my 40 years of being involved with DISD, this was the worst case of neglect and insensitivity.”

Some parents at the Lancaster elementary school where Cotton was hired have threatened to withdraw their children after learning that she headed a school where the staff mistreated Hispanic students.

“We have a lot of Hispanic kids and Hispanic adults. There is going to be conflict,” said Maria Escalante, who has a first-grader and a fourth-grader at the school. “It’s the way she treated kids.”

Mauricio Fernandez is also thinking of pulling his two children from the school. “I just cannot think about leaving my kids around her,” he said.

The school where Cotton will be principal is 33 percent Hispanic.

Claims against Kamalia Cotton

The allegations against Kamalia Cotton came last year when she was a new principal at Dallas’ Ebby Halliday Elementary where she and her staff faced allegations that students had been mistreated.

Allegations included teachers using racial slurs, students not allowed to use the bathroom and physical abuse.

A district investigation found that 11 of the 22 allegations of misconduct were true, and 20 employees were reprimanded.

But many of the specific findings remained private because the report included 62 pages that were partially or fully redacted.

Cotton had asked to be transferred from the school where the allegations were made, then stayed only two months at a new school before taking the position in Lancaster.

Lancaster Superintendent Michael McFarland has defended his hiring.

“We found the allegations against her in DISD didn’t result in a removal of certification or the removal of her position as principal,” he said. “The success and track record that she had speaks volumes about her leadership.”

But parents are pressing for Lancaster officials to reconsider the hiring.

That campaign gained added weight at a meeting last week when school board president Ty G. Jones board member Irene Mejía said they had not been made aware of the allegations against Cotton.

“I read her resume and asked why she never stayed long in any school,” Mejia said. “Another board member said it was because she was so good that they assigned her to schools that needed her more.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”