Districtwide Alvin ISD email regarding rape accusations frustrating for families involved

ALVIN, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a boy accused of raping a special needs girl at Alvin High School last fall is asking for privacy ahead of the new school year.

On Nov. 5, 2021, two students with special-needs had a sexual encounter inside the bathroom. Alvin ISD police got involved and conducted an investigation.

The girl's mother took her for a sexual assault exam and said the nurse found signs of trauma. At the time, she was 18 years old.

The boy, who was 16 years old at the time, told his family's attorney, Alberto Ruiz, that it was consensual.

Both students have developmental disabilities and were in special education classes.

The boy's mother, who did not want to be identified to protect her son, said her son has ADHD, Autism and has the cognitive abilities of an elementary school student. She said her son knows that sex is something boyfriends and girlfriends do.

The girl's mother, who also did not want to be identified to protect her daughter, said she has the mentality of a five or 6-year-old and cannot read, and has limited ability to write. She said her daughter did not know anything about sex prior to this encounter.

Following the sexual encounter, the boy's mother said he was suspended for three days, and his mother said he is no longer allowed to go unsupervised anywhere in the school.

"From the very beginning, that is something I expressed them that I wanted that to be the case," the boy's mother said. "Not because I felt like my son was a danger to someone but because I felt like he's a danger to himself. He doesn't understand consequences. He doesn't understand danger."

The girl's mother said that she told the district she did not want her daughter to be unattended either.

The district told ABC13 in an email that it was not part of either of their care plans at the time of the incident. They also confirmed the student's punishment and said, "Discipline was given in accordance to what the law allowed within the circumstances of this case."

Since the sexual encounter, the girl graduated from high school and no longer is associated with Alvin ISD.

A Brazoria County Grand Jury declined to file charges against the boy after reviewing the investigation done by Alvin ISD and their police department.

Neither the boy nor the girl's family has received copies of any of the more than 100 pages of investigation turned over to the district attorney's office.

The boy's mother said she has a meeting with the district next week and anticipates getting copies then.

ABC13 officially requested a copy, as well, but the district is trying to withhold the information. They sent the request to the Attorney General's Office for a ruling.

"I would love for them to sit at the table in front of news and papers or whatever, call whoever, because I don't have to keep up with lies because my version doesn't change because this is what happened," the girl's mother said.

Alvin ISD sent out an email districtwide at the end of July, almost nine months after the incident, giving a detailed timeline of what happened, despite telling ABC13 they could not legally discuss what happened or what followed.

The letter was frustrating to both sets of parents.

"It's full of lies," the girl's mother said. "It's a joke. It's full of lies. Not once did they mention it was a sexual assault. It was a matter or an event, and it didn't go to the 'expectations of their behavior and their values.' Their values are to cover up whatever happened so they can get their check. Their expectations... you know my expectation wasn't that I would be picking up my daughter sexually assaulted."

"It contained information that indicated that the girl had been raped, Ruiz said. "That he had been disciplined, that he did a wrongful act and that they had taken every step to protect the girl. What it lacked was the fact that the boy was also not found guilty sufficient to be charged with this crime. That he also suffers from developmental delays. That their investigation did not turn up sufficient evidence to call him a rapist to label him as such or to verify a sexual assault occurred."

Ruiz said several times during an interview on Friday that the Grand Jury returned a "no bill" because of insufficient evidence.

The Brazoria County DA's Office said they are not even aware of why or how the Grand Jury arrived at their decision because all proceedings are confidential.

The letter indicated the boy would not be returning to the school for the 2022-23 school year.

Ruiz and his mother indicated that he intended to return, and they planned to discuss it in their upcoming meeting with the district.

The district confirmed that a meeting was happening, per the mother's request, to discuss his placement.

"We believe it would be detrimental to his mental health to isolate him or to further push the notion to him that he's done something wrong," Ruiz said. "He needs to be treated like he was always treated and provided the services he requires."

The districtwide email from Alvin ISD also mentions that they contacted CPS on the day that the sexual encounter happened. DFPS said they did not investigate because the circumstances surrounding the allegations do not fall under the umbrella of what they look into.

The Texas Education Agency said they were alerted to what happened by Alvin ISD in July of 2022.

They said they sent cease and desist letter to the girl's family through certified mail this week to keep them from continuing to talk about what happened.

"We hope that they understand that just like they would not want their daughter to be targeted by misinformation, this family would request the same respect," Ruiz said.

As of Friday afternoon, the girl's family had not received the letter.

The girl's family remains frustrated by the decision of the Grand Jury and the district, who they believe has handled the situation poorly. They said there had been little to no communication with the district.

"If this happened on my watch, I would go to jail for negligence, and rightfully so," the girl's mother said. "Why are they protected?"

As of Friday, Alvin ISD said no staff members have been reassigned as a result of what happened.

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