Karnes City school officials and their lawyers are refusing to comment on a series of incidents involving a teacher that had been accused of bullying some students into displaying Badger pride.

The main incident occurred in a KCISD classroom October 20 where a student had been physically made to stand during a cheer.

KCISD Interim Superintendent Eli Casey and one of the school’s lawyers Robert Russo both say the altercation between coach Doug Patton and the male student is a private personnel matter and is none of the public’s business.

"We’ve gone through the investigation, we’ve written him up, and we have placed a document in his file. It’s a personnel issue. We won’t talk about it," Casey said. "I’m just not going to talk about it. I took the allegations, we wrote it up, and we placed a document in the file and then we closed the issue."

Russo had even less to say.

"There were some complaints made, they were looked into, and the district took action involving coach Patton," he said. "It’s all part of information that, under a certain provision in the education code (and) in the government code, really entitles that information to be confidential. Not only that, but (the situation) involves a student, as well, and that’s protected by both federal and state statutes."

Casey wanted to make it clear the physical altercation was minor, though.

"As far as I’m concerned, I think the term "rough up" … I don’t know that that’s accurate at all. He pulled the kid out of his chair. That’s all he did," Casey said. "It’s a personnel issue and like our attorney said, you know what, it’s part of the evaluation process and we can’t raise those issues publicly. There are lots of things that take place in a school that cannot be disclosed to the public."

Several teachers and students have come forward with information about the incident and talked to reporters at The Countywide on the condition of anonymity.

Students were announcing a cheer over the school PA system October 20 just hours before the Friday night football game when the incident occurred, according to one KCISD teacher. They started chanting "two bits," but when it came time for "all for the Badgers" to "stand up and holler," one student remained seated.

The teacher said Patton responded, physically making the student stand. An individual not involved in the incident later reported it to high school Principal Harold Steele. He began conducting an investigation, during two days of which Patton was placed on administrative leave.

No individual coming to The Countywide with information has indicated the student involved was harmed in any way, though school officials wouldn’t confirm that or any other report regarding the incident.

"It’s pretty tough to protect a student who doesn’t want to be involved at all … and to also afford due process to the teacher involved," Steele said.

Steele currently is in the middle of another investigation also involving Patton where a girl was removed from the classroom for wearing a Falls City High School football jersey.

"We’re looking into something like that," he said. "We had a student that wore a Falls City t-shirt … but that student wasn’t suspended. That student finished whatever the school day that was remaining."

Ed Griffin, the father of the girl removed from class, said both incidents weren’t that big of a deal.

"Coach Patton has been a valued teacher for many years. He may be an old coach’s coach … but he’s a coach that has an immense amount of honor and integrity. I think any of his actions were meant solely to boost the spirit of the school and to hopefully raise the pride of the school," Griffin said. "Everything that I’ve seen Doug stand for so far has been for the children."

Griffin’s daughter had been wearing the jersey on a Friday game day because her boyfriend is on the Falls City varsity football team and the jersey carries his name and number, Griffin said.

A reporter attempted to contact Patton for comment Monday, but was unable to reach him. Messages left on his school answering machine were not returned as of press time Tuesday.