Juvenile officer's do-not-hire status initially reversed amid sexual misconduct investigation

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department allowed a juvenile corrections officer who was being investigated for sexual misconduct to resign and remain eligible for hire weeks after firing him, state records show. 

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Juvenile Justice Department allowed a juvenile corrections officer who was being investigated over sexual misconduct allegations to resign and remain eligible for hire weeks after firing him, state records show. 

Records obtained by KXAN show that the change was part of a mediation settlement agreement in 2022 between former juvenile corrections officer Isaiah Xavier Smith and the agency. Smith was initially fired in September 2022 for turning off his body camera amid the agency’s investigation into a report he inappropriately touched a minor at Giddings State School.

However, according to the settlement agreement, weeks later, the agency agreed to change Smith’s "termination," which made him ineligible for rehire, to a "resignation for personal reasons.” The agency also agreed to reclassify Smith as “eligible for hire” in its Integrated Certification Information System, or ICIS — a database accessible to other county juvenile facilities that use it to check certification eligibility and other misconduct records.

The agency clarified in the settlement it could still consider his “voided disciplinary termination” internally if he tried to reapply for a TJJD position.

A KXAN investigation found that Smith was able to work as a high school tutor after leaving TJJD, all while being investigated for sexual misconduct allegations. Our investigation also found that the nonprofit that hired him, Austin Partners in Education or APIE, had no access to the ICIS database or its misconduct data.

APIE Director Cathy Jones wrote in an email to KXAN that Smith did not disclose his job history at TJJD or the agency's ongoing investigation into his alleged misconduct. Austin Independent School District officials said that following the Smith case, the district will start doing background checks for volunteers in-house next school year.

Records show TJJD did not reverse its decision until more than a year after the settlement, in December 2023, after Smith was arrested and charged with indecency with a minor at an Austin ISD high school where APIE assigned him.

TJJD declined to interview with KXAN but emailed to say that, per state statute, employees dismissed from their jobs are entitled to the mediation process. The agency said everything in a mediation besides the settlement agreement is confidential. 

Smith's attorneys have not responded to multiple requests for comment from KXAN. In a letter to KXAN in March, Smith said the agency "wiped any disciplinary record" after he "appealed a disciplinary decision."

"It's surprising given the accusations and allegations in the case," Austin employment and civil rights attorney Austin Kaplan said. "It's surprising given that the [Office of Inspector General] investigation seemed to be ongoing at the same time."

In a statement, TJJD officials stated the settlement did not stop the investigation into Smith's alleged sexual misconduct by its Office of Inspector General, which investigates employees accused of crimes. Smith was still "flagged" in the agency's database, and officials said the agency "would have been able to tell prospective employers Smith’s dates of employment and other information, depending on what they asked."

Between agency officials signing the settlement agreement and reversing the decision in 2023, the agency’s Office of Inspector General completed its investigation into Smith. In July 2023, OIG investigators found Smith had an inappropriate relationship with a youth. 

Smith got the job at the nonprofit APIE in October, three months after the OIG investigation concluded. Months later — in December 2023 — a panel of three Texas Juvenile Justice Board members met to issue an order making Smith again ineligible for rehire or certification as a juvenile corrections officer.

Smith is currently being held in jail on multiple charges of indecency with a minor out of Lee County — where his former workplace, Giddings State School, is located — and in Travis County. 

His case has already caught the attention of Texas Senators Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who co-authored legislation in 2023 to create a statewide central repository for state misconduct records.

"There's a failure here, no question, and this person should have never been around young people ever again," Bettencourt told KXAN in February.

Bettencourt and Kolkhorst said they would introduce new legislation to fix loopholes in Texas's law. After a KXAN investigation into Smith, they said they would give the Texas Education Agency the authority to investigate and determine whether contractors working in schools can be placed on its Do-Not-Hire list.