4 November 13 - 19, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents What the Hell, Celina ISD? 4 district employees have been arrested in the past month. BY EMMA RUBY O ver the last month, the Celina Independent School District has found itself facing a slew of employee arrests, lawsuits and personnel investigations. Four educators with the district have been arrested since early October, while three others have been placed on leave. The accusations range from claims of sexual abuse to the belief that educators may have been “impaired” while in the classroom. The most recent arrest came when a special education teacher’s aide was accused of being intoxicated. While Celina ISD has addressed some of the incidents, a district spokesperson did not respond to the Observer’s inquiry as to whether the rash of scandals has inspired conversations about the district’s hiring practices or policies. Here’s what we know about each of the cases. Caleb Elliot Celina ISD’s controversies started at the be- ginning of October, when 26-year-old Caleb Elliott, then a middle school history teacher and football coach, was arrested and ac- cused of filming in a boys’ locker room and capturing images that meet the legal defini- tion of child pornography. He has been charged with invasive visual recording and possession or promotion of child pornogra- phy. At least 30 families have been notified that their child may have been affected by the filming. Soon after the arrest, the district states that Caleb Elliott resigned and surrendered his teaching license to the state governing agency, but community members have claimed that this isn’t enough. Elliott is the son of Celina High School football coach Bill Elliott, and some officials have claimed that previous accusations against Caleb Elliott were ignored because of his father’s status in the district. Two lawsuits have been filed against the district and Caleb Elliott, and one names Bill Elliott, Celina ISD Superintendent Thomas Maglisceau and Moore Middle School Prin- cipal Allison Gin in claims of a cover-up. Ad- ditional lawsuits are expected. “It certainly appears that instead of pro- tecting those students, the district chose to protect its ability to go and get another state football championship,” Attorney Quintin Brogdon told reporters. “Something’s very wrong with that picture. There needs to be accountability.” Bill Elliott and Gin have both been placed on non-disciplinary leave as the district con- ducts a third-party investigation into the hiring and employment of Caleb Elliott. That leave meant that Bill Elliott was not permitted to attend a recent Senior Night football game, despite a community petition requesting an exception to the leave, which garnered nearly 1,000 signatures. Kristine Coates A 50-year-old Celina ISD paraprofessional was arrested in Prosper on Oct. 10, WFAA reports, after getting into an altercation with a man. She was charged with injury to a child/elderly/disabled individual. According to the district, Kristine Coates was placed on administrative leave two days after the arrest, although the man involved in the altercation was not associ- ated with the district. On Oct. 16, the dis- trict confirmed that Coates had submitted her resignation. Jainya Walder The next arrest came on Oct. 30, when 40-year-old Jainya Walder was removed from her classroom under suspicion of being intoxicated. After being assessed by Celina police officers, she was placed under arrest. Walder worked at the same middle school as Caleb Elliott, and in a letter sent to parents, interim Principal Kendric Smith ac- knowledged that Walder’s arrest came dur- ing a “challenging” time for the school. Walder faces a charge of child endanger- ment and has been put on administrative leave, the district said. Neil Phillips Celina High School wrestling coach Neil Phillips was also put on administrative leave after the district learned of social media posts accusing Phillips of inappropriate con- duct on Oct. 31. The alleged incidents hap- pened when Phillips was employed by Melissa ISD, and Celina officials have said his record showed no evidence of wrongdo- ing at the time of his hiring. The Dallas Morning News reports that so- cial media videos appear to show Phillips encouraging students to use an AI chatbot to have sexual conversations. The report states students instructed the bot to go on “sexy mode,” which inspired a string of sexually explicit comments. According to a Nov. 3 letter sent to parents by Melissa ISD leaders, Phillips was removed from campus on March 5, 2025, after campus leaders were made aware of “concerns” re- garding his actions in the classroom. The let- ter goes on to state that Phillips resigned while an investigation was underway, and that when Celina ISD reached out to Melissa ISD administrators for a reference, they pro- vided a “truthful and accurate” one. Celina ISD leaders have said the district is “investigating the discrepancy” between Phillips’ seemingly clean record and the March investigation into his conduct. Micheale Clark Police were called to Celina High School on Nov. 4 after Micheale Clark, a special educa- tion teacher’s aide, was accused of being vis- ibly impaired while in the classroom. According to police, a preliminary investiga- tion resulted in Clark being taken to the Col- lin County Jail. She faces a charge of endangering a dis- abled individual. According to the district, Clark has been placed on administrative leave. ▼ TECH & GOVERNMENT THE NOISE WON’T STOP SMALL TEXAS COMMUNITY TAKES ON CRYPTO GIANT, LOSES BID FOR PEACE. BY ALYSSA FIELDS D anny Lakey and his neighbors didn’t know what that sound was when they first heard it in 2023. It was insistent, a droning sound in the distance, louder than a soft whir, but constant and unchanging. It didn’t take long to discover that the sound was coming from the newest site of industri- alization in rural Hood County, southwest of Fort Worth, and now, Lakey and a grassroots team of residents who settled far from a city center for a quieter way of life, are feuding with a multi-billion-dollar cryptomining company that just won’t quiet down. Lakey and his neighbors have ex- hausted almost every resource to silence, or at least quiet, the mining facility, and their most creative effort just failed in Tuesday’s election. The noise generated by the cryptocur- rency mining facility in the unincorporated community is the result of the hundreds of fans required to cool the supersized com- puter systems that operate day and night. By state law, any noise exceeding 85 decibels is considered a public nuisance. Lakey regularly measures the noise from the mining facility between 65 and 85 deci- bels. Despite a dozen noise violations issued to the plant manager in 2024, which were all dismissed by a jury in July of the same year, counties do not have the authority to impose noise regulations. This means that those outside the Granbury city limits have limited options to restore the peace to their once- sleepy homes. So, the residents, led by Cheryl Shadden, whom Lakey heralds as the powerful leader of the effort, decided to form their own municipality, an official town named after the largest road running through the area, Mitchell Bend Court. However, voters must approve this measure, and after a con- tentious legal battle to even get it on the ballot, it ultimately failed to pass in last week’s election. “We tried,” Shadden said in a text to the Observer. “It was hard for a community group to fight big oil and gas and the crypto mine… Even if we couldn’t help the commu- nity here, hopefully the rest of Hood County can be helped by our loss.” Of the 138 total voters, 62% voted against incorporation. Shadden credits a large-scale mail campaign against the incorporation that alleged higher taxes if the new city were formed. “Texas gives Municipalities the ability to do a lot of things; however, you don’t have to. Those statutes are voted on in an incorpo- rated area by the voters,” she said. “You don’t have to add additional property taxes, you don’t have to pay for additional services like EMS and police, the county continues to provide that. The community here believes what [they] said.” In the meantime, another power plant, the fifth such operation, is proposed for Hood County. The plant will generate en- ergy for an incoming data center, which will require additional fans, increasing noise production and overall pollution in the area. “We will not stop fighting for this com- munity,” Shadden said in a press release. “We have witnessed how far the crypto in- dustry will go to protect their own | UNFAIR PARK | Jacob Vaughn Celina has been home to some negative headlines in recent weeks. >> p6
