Judson school board votes 4-3 to fire superintendent

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In a contentious 4-3 vote, the board of trustees for the Judson Independent School District fired Superintendent Milton “Rob” Fields III Wednesday night.

Although the board agenda said the vote to terminate Fields’ contract would be “for good cause,” no mention of that condition was included in the official language of Field’s termination.

After three hours behind closed doors, Trustee Amanda Poteet made a motion to “propose the termination” of Fields’ employment contract, “direct the board president to provide notice accordingly,” and keep Fields on paid leave.

Trustees also voted 5-2 to appoint Deputy Superintendent Mary Duhart-Toppen as interim superintendent. Assistant Superintendent Lacey Gosch served as interim during the initial investigation.

Fields was first placed on paid administrative leave on January 10, just over three weeks ago. At the time, there was no publicly stated reason why beyond a possible plan to investigate unspecified “reported concerns.”

No specifics of those “reported concerns” were given on Wednesday night either, beyond a brief and vague accusation from Board President Monica Ryan that a complaint concerned “student safety.”

Longtime trustees Suzanne Kenoyer, Laura Stanford, and José Macias Jr. voted against firing Fields. In public statements, all three have said they did not believe the complaints were substantive enough to merit his termination.

“This should have been a grievance hearing,” Macias said. “If an employee has a complaint, they file a grievance and the accused is allowed to address the accuser. None of that happened today. All that happened was an email was sent with allegations that could not be disproved because the other party, Dr. Fields, did not have an opportunity to rebut those accusations.”

In a Facebook post on January 30, Trustee Laura Stanford said Fields had not been accused of anything criminal, immoral or “egregious.”

“I’ve grappled with this prayerfully for days, and I can’t in good conscience participate in allowing a man’s reputation to be sullied in mysterious circumstances,” Stanford wrote. “Although I can’t share what the Jan 22 meeting with the investigative attorney revealed, I can share what it did NOT reveal: criminal or immoral behavior. That is what I was expecting to see after the Jan 10 meeting that would justify our actions, and that is what I did NOT see. That is what the public is expecting to see as well, to justify the extreme AND EXPENSIVE mid-year action taken. I can say: it is not there.”

“I also refuse to be caught in the “I cannot comment” trap, which leads the public to wonder if Dr. Fields committed some unthinkable act,” Stanford wrote. “I will tell you now and for the record going forward: HE DID NOT.”

Macias and Kenoyer both also allege that the process of ousting Fields had resulted in violations of the open meetings act.
“Ms. Ryan stated in open session that we all received emails outlining the nature of complaints being alleged against Dr. Fields. It was actually just 2 emails, and one of the emails only went to 4 board members,” Macias wrote in a Facebook post on January 28. “The remaining board members were deliberately left in the dark.”

“The fact that three board members were left out of the full scope of the allegations is completely unethical. If we had been informed it may have swayed how the conversations would have been made in closed session,” Macias added on Facebook. “My concern is that there may have been a violation of the Open Meetings Act by 4 board members knowingly withholding information and acting in concert. Each board member is legally mandated to have access to all information.”

On Wednesday night, Macias said he had letters ready to be sent “to the attorney general, the district attorney, the Texas Ethics Commission, TEA, filing a formal complaint of violations of the Open Meeting Act” during the investigation.

Kenoyer said the actions of Ryan and the rest of the board majority on January 10 showed that they had communicated amongst themselves ahead of time without informing the board minority.

“Four members showed up prepared to take action. Ms. Lee read a prepared motion that Ms. Ryan had a copy of. For this to have happened means that there was a walking quorum, which is a violation of the Open Meetings Act,” Kenoyer said. “Not only did all that happen, but then in the closed session the three of us were not privy to any of the allegations that were alleged. We were told that there were multiple complaints, and unfortunately I believed it.”

Kenoyer said that if she had been fully informed, she would not have voted to place Fields on leave on January 10.

“All the allegations that were investigated were from one complaint. One email that I did not receive,” Kenoyer said.

Ryan disputed that characterization of the chain of events.

“I want to say thank you to the more than two dozen employees who have come forward in the last two months with their complaints that were all handed over to the investigator and investigated. Not one email, and my colleagues are aware of that,” Ryan said. “I applaud your bravery for putting students first even at personal cost to yourself.”

“There were serious concerns that rose to the level of legal good cause that was briefed to this board at the last meeting (on January 22). There were also additional serious concerns, some of those impacting student safety,” Ryan added. “So, I personally would like to hear those additional findings from our legal counsel that are standing by to talk to us about those new findings and the documents that have been found.”

Before trustees went into closed session Wednesday, Macias made a motion for Fields to be reinstated. That vote failed 3-4 with Macias, Stanford, and Kenoyer voting yes.

Macias accused Ryan and the board majority of going on a fishing expedition to find more complaints against Fields after the January 22 meeting where an attorney presented their initial investigation findings in closed session.

“If there are serious allegations, you know what happened? They weren’t brought up the last time we spoke,” Macias said. “They had to go and dig more over the last week just so they could have something to say is real.”

Macias reiterated that employee complaints should go through the formal grievance process where Fields would have the chance to defend himself, adding as an aside that he’s had a hundred complaints against Ryan.

“One thing we’ve never done is operate on anonymous tips because anybody can say anything with anonymity and it doesn’t mean it’s true. It just means they can fabricate whatever they want,” Macias said.

After the May 2025 election changed the makeup of the board, the superintendent’s duties and employment was frequently added to the board agenda for discussion. But prior to the January 10 board meeting where Fields was placed on leave, discussion had never left closed session.

Fields is a product of Judson and well-loved by many district staff. At the meeting where he was placed on leave, members of the public said the superintendent was a man of character, and the move to investigate him was a “witch hunt.”

Community members, including many district employees, once again filled the board room to support Fields Wednesday evening and share their opposition to him being fired during public comments.

Paula Johnson, Judson’s executive director of student engagement, said she was concerned the integrity and mission of the district was being compromised.

“I have watched Dr. Fields navigate his role with professionalism and a commitment to excellence in everything he does. I’ve witnessed him unfailingly approach every challenge with a cool head, a clear focus, and a concrete plan of attack,” Johnson said.

“The narrative being circulated about him recently is not only inconsistent with the man I know, it is a direct contradiction to his leadership here in Judson ISD,” Johnson added. “Slander and defamation are easy to start, but they are incredibly difficult to retract once the damage to a career and a life has been done. You can’t un-ring the bell, even when its echoes rings of lies.”

P.J. Cabrera, a local professor and former Judson journalism teacher, said this moment was a case study in the impact of local elections and the power of social media.

“This right here is what chaos and, frankly, racism looks like,” Cabrera said. “This community has elected a school board that governs on Facebook, fueled by faceless, cowardly, anonymous statements, mostly grammatically incorrect, which in turn has evolved into a community that doesn’t trust public schools or its leaders.”

Judson teacher Monica Baietti told the board they needed transparency, including an explanation for the board agenda describing Fields termination as “for good cause.”

“If there is truly good cause, prove it. Provide the fullest transparency the law allows. You can protect confidential information while still explaining the framework, but so far you have offered none,” Baietti said. “This silence creates chaos. It fuels rumors. It destabilizes campuses already dealing with a budget crisis, staffing shortages, and community frustration. And it sends a dangerous message to every educator in this district that leadership can be dismantled in the dark without standards, without explanation, and without fairness.”

Elaine Perez, a Judson parent and graduate, told trustees her family has long ties to the district, and she volunteers in her children’s schools.

“The reason why I’m sharing all this is to make one point clear: You will never, never find anybody more committed or passionate than a Judson ISD graduate,” Perez said. “Dr. Milton Fields should remain superintendent of Judson ISD.”

“Every action has a consequence,” Perez added. “If Dr. Fields is terminated, there will be a mass exodus of staff. Public trust will be broken. And, for many Judson ISD families, this will be the final straw. Families will leave the district where boards operate with transparency, professionalism, and integrity.”

Both Macias and multiple members of the public brought up the decision to appoint Assistant Superintendent Lacey Gosch as interim superintendent on January 10, bypassing two, more senior, deputy superintendents.

On Wednesday, Kenoyer made a motion to appoint Deputy Superintendent Mary Duhart-Toppen as interim superintendent instead. The motion passed 5-2, with Ryan and Poteet voting no.

Several speakers alluded to bias in the board’s decisions, and Cabrera explicitly described the situation as racism.

Gosch is white. Both Duhart-Toppen and Fields are Black.