The U.S. Justice Department announced a $1 million settlement with Dallas ISD over allegations the district failed to properly report a teacher accused of abusing multiple children – and who went on to allegedly abuse more in another district.
The teacher at the center of the case, Michael Roell, was indicted last month on federal charges in what the DOJ said was a scheme to “conceal his prior history of abuse” and obtain a job at Forney ISD.
According to the settlement with Dallas ISD, the district hired Roell – who later changed his name to Johnathan Michael – as a special education teacher in 2022. In his two years with the district, Roell was the subject of four separate investigations into alleged “sexual misconduct with minors.”
The DOJ said the district did not report the allegations to the State Board for Educator Certification, instead finding the allegations “unfounded” under a Title IX standard. Dallas ISD quietly accepted Roell’s resignation in 2024 and placed him on an internal “do not hire” list. He later changed his name and was hired as a special education teacher at Forney ISD; earlier this year he was arrested for allegedly abusing a student there.
The settlement comes as part of Project Safe Schools, which North Texas law enforcement agencies launched in August to hold districts accountable for alleged abuse.
Dallas ISD will pay $145,000 in a penalty and $855,000 for district-wide reforms, including posting mandatory signage outlining child-abuse reporting duties, conducting compliance audits, and reviewing all sexual misconduct allegations dating back to 2022 and sharing the finding with the Texas Education agency.
“This agreement forces fundamental change, because student safety must always come before institutional convenience,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould said in a statement Tuesday.
Dallas ISD said in a statement that it could not corroborate any allegations against the former teacher. It also said that while “we strongly disagree with the government’s allegations and legal interpretations of this statute…we share the fundamental goal of Project Safe Schools: protecting students and ensuring their safety.”
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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