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Although Dr. Ross Grant, the embattled former band director at Azle High School, last week was declared not guilty of “failure to report” an allegation of sexual assault of a child, band supporters and the school district are each circling the wagons for their respective positions.
Supporters clearly want Grant rehired. A group of Grant supporters have placed a full page advertisement supporting the former Azle High band director in this week’s Azle News.
The school district has not decided what it will do, AISD spokesman Ray Ivey said Wednesday. “The certificate situation has not changed,” Ivey said. “Therefore our position has not changed.” Grant’s certification through Texas Education Agency will be reviewed soon, Ivey said.
“The district is also reviewing several other issues,” he added. “Our lawyer is in contact with his lawyer. Work is being done to resolve this.” Grant was acquitted last week of the charge of failure to report child abuse, which is a misdemeanor. “Dr. Grant is an outstanding role model for every teacher in America...he is simply incapable of committing the offense for which he was accused...I believe the jury clearly understood that,” an e-mail statement by his attorney, Mark Daniel, reads in its entirety. Daniel’s name was listed incorrectly in last week’s edition of the Azle News. He was not available for questions this week, his office said. Grant’s trial culminated in an acquittal on Wednesday, July 21, after a six-person jury deliberated for a short time. During cross-examination of school resource officer David VanderKaay on July 20, Daniel asked if anyone else had been charged in the case, including another band member who did not report the alleged abuse as well as the band member who is alleged to have committed the offense. VanderKaay, who kept his answers short throughout the cross-examination, said “No, sir.” The alleged abuser has now graduated from AHS, but was a 17-year-old junior at the time the incident occurred. A 14-yearold freshman girl said the junior inappropriately touched her during a bus trip after a football game, according to testimony in Grant’s trial. The girl testified last week that she thought Grant didn’t believe her and that he had discouraged her from calling her parents or the police. Grant refuted the girl’s testimony. The young man who is alleged to have committed the act has not been “charged” with the crime, depending on how one interprets the term, Chief of Police Steve Myers said this week. The young man is considered a suspect of in a case of sexual abuse of a child, but has not been indicted by a grand jury, he said. “This case will be filed directly with the grand jury,” Myers said this week. “But the case was presented to the district attorney at the same time as Dr. Grant’s case was. “We won’t pursue a warrant until he is indicted,” he said. Myers said he is concerned that the case against the young man will be difficult to prosecute because of how long it was before the incident was reported to police. A formal decision on Grant’s status may not be made until Aug. 24 – the next time the school board is scheduled to meet. |
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