The DeSoto Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Sunday night to rescind its acceptance of Superintendent D'Andre Weaver's voluntary resignation.
"As a Board, we look forward to welcoming Dr. Weaver back to DeSoto ISD so that we can get back to our collective work of serving the students, staff and families of DeSoto ISD with care and fidelity," the Board said in a statement after reinstating Weaver.
Last Sunday many were surprised and left with unanswered questions when Weaver abruptly stepped down as the district superintendent. He was brought on in 2018 to turn the district around after years of alleged mismanagement by prior leadership.
“My thought were I was happy that they rescinded the resignation and I think the reason they rescinded it was because of the community pressure," said Morris Pope. He and his wife live in DeSoto and have two kids who've graduated from the district. He said they've rallied for Weaver all week and continue to want answers. "Even though they rescinded it 7 -0 , they voted 4-3 to accept his forced resignation so we would love to have an explanation why they voted to initially ask Dr. Weaver to resign. I'm disappointed that they went into executive session without explaining themselves and giving the community a reason why they made ill advised decision to begin with.”
The board voted 4-3 to accept Weaver's resignation on Aug. 30 and then immediately replaced him with Don Hooper as the acting superintendent.
It was a move that started a firestorm after people called for his resignation after posts from his Facebook page surfaced that some deemed racist. Hooper apologized and removed the posts.
Sunday night, the board voted 7-0 to remove Hooper from the position and DeSoto ISD Board President Karen Daniel said, "I do want to say I have received and accepted Dr. Hooper's resignation." Hooper was not in attendance during the Zoom meeting.
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The virtual meeting started at 6 p.m. and began with an hour's worth of public comments that were submitted and read. One included a comment from the mayor of DeSoto and state Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) who joined the more than 30 others from the community who voiced support for Weaver.
After the vote, the board went into executive session for about an hour and a half. After they came back, Weaver was back in the picture.
So was the state conservator, AJ Crabill, who the Texas Education Agency appointed last week to oversee the district.
He led exercises with the board during the public session on ways to help rebuild trust with one another. Weaver was the last to speak and commented that he's, "more committed today than I have ever been in this district over the last two years."
In August the Texas Education Agency released an 18-page report outlining the reasons why the district was $21.6 million in the hole and attributed it to past board members and a former superintendent.
