McALLEN — A letter sent by a McAllen ISD administrator to long-time McAllen Memorial head football coach Bill Littleton just days before he retired earlier this year reprimands the former coach over accusations of an inappropriate text exchange with a parent and prescribes sexual harassment training.
Littleton received the letter, penned by Assistant Superintendent Todd Miller, just six days before Memorial announced his retirement.
The letter says the alleged text exchange violated board policy and cites that policy.
“Your actions have reflected negatively upon yourself, your campus, and McAllen ISD. This type of behavior is unacceptable and cannot continue,” it reads. “I am asking that you refrain from repeating this type of behavior, and ensure compliance with all Board Policies and Directives. Future incident(s) of unacceptable behavior or Policy violations may result in further employee disciplinary action.”
Miller writes in the letter that he would coordinate refresher sexual harassment training for Littleton and encourages him to contact the district’s Employee Assistance Program to talk to someone about appropriate workplace behaviors.
The district responded to questions about the reprimand with a brief statement on July 30.
“McAllen ISD prides itself in being a high performing organization,” it reads. “Our district holds itself to very high standards. Personnel matters are confidential.”
The Austin-based law firm of O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo, attorneys for the school district, emailed a correspondence that day claiming the email was confidential and “inadvertently” released in response to a request from “a third party,” and requested The Monitor “destroy its copy” of the document.
Asked if they had any comment for the story, O’Hanlon associate Kristi Godden said the law firm did not.
Dave Hendricks, a reporter in South Texas, formally requested records of complaints and investigations into Littleton in early June, but the district tried to stop the release of the records to Hendricks and the public by seeking an opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
On Monday, however, the AG’s office ordered the release of nearly all the records.
The Monitor is also requesting those documents.
Littleton’s retirement in June followed a coaching career spanning 45 years, 18 of which were spent at McAllen Memorial.
The Mustangs posted a record of 123-69 under his leadership, winning eight district titles and reaching the playoffs 16 times.
Littleton has declined to comment.
