DALLAS — A top internal investigator with the Dallas Independent School District has filed a complaint with the state alleging that "several hundred" school district employees were hired without having their criminal history properly reviewed.
Jeremy Liebbe, manager of DISD's Professional Standards Office, made the allegation in an Aug. 26 complaint letter to the Texas Education Agency.
A TEA spokeswoman confirmed Friday the agency received the complaint. "It's being reviewed by our complaints management team right now," Debbie Ratcliffe said. "That review will determine whether we need to open an investigation."
Referring inquiries to his lawyer Pete Schulte, Liebbe declined to elaborate on his allegations when reached Friday. Schulte also declined to talk about the contents of his client's letter.
A DISD spokesman wouldn't discuss Liebbe or his allegations about background checks with WFAA. "Dallas ISD does not comment on personnel matters," spokesman André Riley said.
Liebbe has been on administrative leave since July 17, shortly after he led a high-profile internal investigation that resulted in the firing of 15 DISD coaches and top athletics administrators over improper recruiting of student athletes. WFAA uncovered details of the recruiting while investigating the death of Troy Causey, one of the recruited athletes. Dallas Madison High School had two state basketball titles stripped as a result of the investigations.
Other than to say it's not related to the athletics investigation, DISD hasn't disclosed why Liebbe is on administrative leave.
In a Sept. 3 letter to DISD trustees obtained by News 8, Liebbe surmises it's because days before he was put on leave, he began looking into whether his boss, Tonya Sadler Grayson, failed to disclose an old misdemeanor conviction on her job application. Grayson is executive director of DISD's human resource operations and oversees, among other things, employee records and administrative investigations, which includes Liebbe's PSO unit.
Through a DISD spokesman, Grayson declined to talk to WFAA Friday.
According to his letter to the TEA, Liebbe said that during his investigation of Grayson's omission of her misdemeanor conviction, Liebbe says he also discovered "several hundred current DISD employees that may not have been properly reviewed for criminal history record information prior to being employed."
He said that a day after he attempted to notify the superintendent of his findings, he was placed on leave and escorted from his office by DISD police officers. Liebbe is a former DISD police detective who left the force to head the newly-created PSO unit.
"Having concluded that there is a high likelihood that the administration elected to have me placed on administrative leave in retaliation for discovering and reporting to the superintendent suspected violations of state law and board policy by top executives in the District, and so as to conduct a railroaded investigation for the sole purpose of seeking any cause for my termination, I have filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency," Liebbe wrote to trustees.
In August, WFAA reported that because he is on unspecified leave, the district is not allowing Liebbe to help defend his investigation of coaches and administrators, some of whom have appealed their terminations.
