Humble ISD trustees narrowly voted 4-3 to fire Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen Tuesday night for failing to maintain a good relationship with the board.
The close vote follows months of mounting leadership divisions and controversy in the 48,000-student districts, during which trustees have described the leadership’s relationship as “broken” and many community members have aired their distrust in the outgoing superintendent and board members. Fagen, who has been on administrative leave since mid-May without a stated reason, has two weeks to appeal the decision.
Fueling the turmoil are legal battles that have consumed the district since an employee filed a Title IX complaint against former athletic director Troy Kite in May 2023. Kite, who is Fagen’s husband, retired in April after the board-hired investigators recommended his termination following their conclusion that he created a hostile workplace and sexually harassed his co-workers. Some community members began calling for Fagen’s exit then.
Though the tangled legal controversy has rocked the district, trustees did not divulge explicit details about what exactly Fagen did to fracture her relationship with the board — though two trustees insinuated it stems from her not taking action when she became aware of wrongful behavior.
“Our job is to govern one person,” trustee Ken Kirchhofer said. “That one person just needed to make a decision. When she was aware of behavior that was going on, make a decision. Send the message to the rest of the district: ‘I’m not going to tolerate it, no matter who it is.’”
Since the investigation into Kite was released publicly in April, tensions have only escalated. Kite filed a lawsuit in early June alleging that trustee Robert Scarfo repeatedly sexually harassed Kite while he was an employee, and claimed that three other trustees — the same trustees who voted to fire Fagen — illegally coordinated his ouster from the district.
Trustee Michael Grabowksi said he’s seen “overwhelming evidence” that Fagen should be terminated, but did not disclose what this was. When the “ongoing process” is over, he said, he’ll present it publicly via a slideshow.
“Numerous purposeful actions were done to damage this district,” Grabowski said. “How this vote won’t be 7-0 is mind-boggling to me.”
Fagen, whose salary totals about $349,000, was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, and she was unable to be reached for comment. She has not publicly commented on Kite’s allegations against Scarfo or Kite’s exit from the district, aside from a statement in which she said she recused herself from the matters involving her husband in May 2023 and has “made no decisions regarding any of the pending Title IX complaints, including spending.” Legal fees related to these matters have cost the district over $1.8 million in the last year, trustee Martina Lemond-Dixon said.
In Tuesday’s heated meeting, trustees spent nearly two hours debating if Fagen should be fired. Trustees Lemond-Dixon and Marques Holmes, who voted against her termination, argued that the board didn’t have enough cause to dismiss her.
“Community, I’m letting you know I don’t have enough information to make a really good judgment on your behalf,” Holmes said. “And I was hired to represent you.”
Ending on a sour note
Fagen’s eight-year tenure in Humble has been bookended by controversy.
When Fagen was hired in 2016, she faced some community opposition, largely due to her battles with teachers unions and her support for a voucher program in her previous Colorado superintendent job. But after the initial backlash, Fagen generally saw strong community and board support in Humble. She led the district through the complications of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2023, trustees unanimously voted to renew Fagen’s contract, extending it to the end of June 2028.
“What has she done to prompt termination?” said Deanie Allen, a resident and a former Humble teacher. “I’m a taxpayer. I would like to know. So far, she seems to have done a good job. (Trustees) gave her a good evaluation.”
But relationships among leaders have increasingly soured in the last year, with board members split on their support for the outgoing leader and board meetings becoming increasingly heated affairs.
“The seven of us on the board, 14, 15 months ago, I’d say there was a pretty good relationship,” Kirchhofer said. “Dr. Fagen and I had a great relationship up to about two months ago. … Our leader of this district has to be above board.”
Tammy Nix, who has children attending Woodland Hills Elementary School and Kingwood Park High School, said the controversy surrounding Fagen’s husband and the lawsuits have been “distracting from education itself,” so she wasn’t surprised to see trustees planning to fire Fagen.
“She’s costing the district more at this point,” Nix said.
Several community members said during Tuesday’s public comments that trustees Scarfo, Kirchhofer, Grabowski and Chris Parker — the four board members that ousted Fagen — should not have been allowed to vote Tuesday, considering Fagen’s husband is suing each of them.
“This raises concern about partiality, fairness and the protection of the rights of all parties involved,” said Natalie Carter, parent of three children in the district.
What comes next?
Trustees did not say when they will begin to look for a new superintendent, though the process could take months. School districts often use a firm to search nationally for candidates and gather community feedback on them. Humble leaders used a search firm when hiring Fagen.
In the meantime, Deputy Superintendent Roger Brown, an administrator in the district since 2014, has been serving as acting superintendent since Fagen was placed on leave in mid-May.
Fagen recently sought a less tumultuous exit from Humble by applying for a position in Washoe County, Nevada, as the investigation into her husband came to a close. But she was not selected as a lone finalist for the position, and the turbulence surrounding her and Kite crept into her interview process — interview summaries posted by the Washoe County school district stated interviewers worried Fagen’s “past controversies” could “impact her ability to effectively lead and earn the trust of the community.”
“She said, ‘If I don’t get Reno job, I’ll hand you my resignation,’” trustee Kirchhofer claimed. “That never came. So my trust, when (Fagen) lied to me, the trust broke, broke, broke.”
Community members and some trustees chided that terminating her contract could cost the district more money. District spokesperson Jamie Mount could not confirm how much the district will pay out to Fagen after severing her employment mid-contract, though trustee Lemond-Dixon estimated it would cost roughly $1.5 million.
Several community members called for increased transparency from the board Tuesday, including publicly releasing the full Title IX report of the investigation prompted by Kite’s allegations against trustee Scarfo. Several trustees said they’d heed those calls once the investigation’s appeal process is completed.
On top of the district’s internal legal mire, records obtained by the Houston Landing also show the Texas Education Agency began reviewing multiple complaints against Humble leaders in May. The complaints include allegations of misuse of public funds, a failure to supply public records on time and board member conflicts of interest. If state investigators ultimately conclude in an investigation that district officials have engaged in misconduct, the state’s education commissioner could appoint a monitor to oversee parts of district operations or replace the board, among other sanctions.
“We’re being investigated right now by the TEA,” Lemond-Dixon said. “And honestly, I welcome the intervention because I do not think this is the way we should handle business.”
“I do not think what we’re doing is the right thing. It’s just not.”
Houston Landing intern Fallon Head contributed to this report.
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