Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 5
Coppell ISD Sued Over Critical Race Theory • City Leaders Testify Against Sales Tax Shift • Activists Host Town Hall Without Van Duyne • One-Man Crime Wave Crossed Into Coppell
If you don’t like reading about politics, then I’m afraid you might not enjoy this edition very much. Apologies in advance.
Coppell ISD Sued Over Critical Race Theory
A hidden-camera interview recorded more than two years ago prompted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue Coppell ISD.
The lawsuit was filed on March 13, but Paxton’s office didn’t announce it until March 19, in the middle of Coppell ISD’s spring break. The named defendants are Superintendent Brad Hunt, all seven of the district’s trustees, and Evan Whitfield, who is Coppell ISD’s Director of Secondary Mathematics and Science.
Whitfield has been in the crosshairs of an organization called Accuracy in Media since 2023. In February of that year, Accuracy in Media published a video about Critical Race Theory that features Whitfield as well as footage of employees in Edgewood ISD, Lancaster ISD, McKinney ISD, Mesquite ISD, North East ISD, Richardson ISD, and South San Antonio ISD. None of them appear to be aware that they are being recorded.
Whitfield was wearing a COVID-era mask in the footage, which was recorded in the lobby of Coppell ISD’s Vonita White Administration Building. The person wielding the hidden camera asked him, “So, the Abbott, like, orders or whatever from a few months ago aren’t really going to affect anything?”
Whitfield replied, “I don’t think so. The bottom line is we’ve gotten around it by saying, ‘Well, we’re just not teaching that.’”
The video was hosted by Adam Guillette, who has been Accuracy in Media’s president since 2019. Near the end of the clip, he said this: “We’ll never know exactly what is happening in these schools, but what we do know for sure is that the governor’s ban clearly carried no weight. The only solution to this problem is school choice where the money follows the child.”
In March of 2023, Accuracy in Media published a second report featuring footage of Whitfield as well as employees of Austin ISD, Bastrop ISD, Calallen ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, Keller ISD, Plano ISD, and South San Antonio ISD. Here’s what Whitfield said in that one.
Whitfield: “We kind of dance, tap dance around calling it anything, because, that’s, if I were to say Coppell is teaching the NGSS science standards, the national Next Generation Science Standards, if I were to publish that on our website, that’s when we would get a call from TEA.”
Hidden camera: “Really?”
Whitfield: “Yeah. But are we still teaching NGSS-ish? Absolutely.”
Hidden camera: “So they can’t really control what’s happening?”
Whitfield: “No. We just, we just do the right thing at the end of the day.”
A third video featuring Whitfield was published in May of 2023. It included some of the same footage from the first two videos, in which Whitfield was wearing a mask. But it also featured a separate hidden-camera interview in which his face was uncovered.
Hidden camera: “At the end of the day, can’t the teacher just close the door and teach what’s right?”
Whitfield: “That’s what we do. And I think that’s what I told you before. We teach what’s right.”
That report also featured footage of employees in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, Keller ISD, Lancaster ISD, McKinney ISD, Mesquite ISD, Plano ISD, and Richardson ISD.
Last August, Guillette showed up at Denton Creek Elementary and talked to parents about his reports. He brought a mobile billboard that played the previously released footage of Whitfield.
Paxton’s lawsuit stems from footage that seemingly was not published until last month. On Feb. 25, Corey A. DeAngelis, a self-described “school choice evangelist” and senior adviser to Accuracy in Media, posted clips of Whitfield on X, formerly known as Twitter. They are taken from the same hidden-camera interview featured in the original reports, but they include this exchange that I didn’t see in previous videos:
Hidden camera: “Our concern is more that they’re gonna — I don’t know where you are politically, but it’s, like, have to learn a MAGA version of history instead of an accurate depiction of real world events.”
Whitfield: “One thing that I love about this district is, despite what our state standards say and despite what, you know, is going on, we do what’s right for kids.”
The next day, Accuracy in Media posted an article about DeAngelis’ tweets under this headline: “BUSTED: Coppell, Texas school admin admits to defying Abbott’s CRT ban.” The video embedded in that article concludes with a declarative statement: “Enacting universal school choice is the only way to reform education in Texas.”
Paxton’s lawsuit says the state is not seeking monetary relief or attorney’s fees; all it seeks is “injunctive relief prohibiting future ultra vires acts.” In case you’re not aware, “ultra vires” is a legal term that means “beyond one’s legal power or authority.”
On Wednesday, the day the lawsuit was announced, I sent an email to the attorney general’s designated address for media inquiries. After pointing out that the lawsuit seeks to prohibit Coppell ISD from teaching Critical Race Theory, developing CRT materials, and distributing CRT materials, I said this: “Given the fact that Superintendent Brad Hunt and Board President David Caviness have publicly stated that Coppell ISD does not do any of those things, how can this suit be resolved? Is the AG seeking a trial at which Dr. Hunt and Mr. Caviness would have to say these things under oath?” My inquiry has not been answered.
On Thursday, Paxton, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — all of whom are proponents of school choice, also known as vouchers — were at the White House to watch President Donald Trump sign an executive order calling for the dismantling of the federal Department of Education.
City Leaders Testify Against Sales Tax Shift
In what has become a biennial affair, Coppell leaders traveled to Austin last week to testify against a bill that would take millions of dollars from the city.
Morgan Meyer, who resides in University Park and represents District 108 in the Texas House, has filed a bill that would switch the state’s policy on sales taxes from “origin sourcing” to “destination sourcing.” Here’s what HB 134 says about orders that are not placed in person: “... the sale is consummated at the location in this state to which the item is shipped or delivered or at which possession is taken by the purchaser.”
Meyer filed similar bills in 2021 and 2023. Like those bills, his latest legislation was the subject of a hearing before the Ways & Means Committee, which Meyer chairs. As the nearly three hours of testimony began on Monday afternoon, Meyer opened with a bit of sarcasm.
“Obviously, I think this is the best bill of the day,” he said. “Whenever you have the most witnesses, that means your bill is really, really good.”
The committee heard from 18 people — 12 who opposed the bill, and six who were neutral. Nobody signed up to speak in favor of it.
The first three opposing witnesses were Coppell Mayor Wes Mays, Coppell City Manager Mike Land, and Stephen Fink, an attorney with Holland & Knight, the firm that represented Coppell and other cities when they sued Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar over a policy change that would have had the same effect as Meyer’s legislation. The mayors of two of Coppell’s fellow plaintiffs — Steve Babick of Carrollton and Terry Lynne of Farmers Branch — also testified in opposition.
Mays told the committee that Coppell has adopted policies over the past 50 years to complement the city’s proximity to DFW Airport. That has led to Coppell having more than 350 businesses occupying nearly 29 million square feet of commercial space and employing 25,000 Texans. Because many of those businesses ship products across the state, Meyer’s bill would cause about 60 percent of Coppell’s sales tax revenue to vanish.
“Cities have played by the rules to support the business community, and we made decisions trusting that they were in the best interests of our communities,” Mays said. “They were at the forefront of building the infrastructure that created the shared economy that we all benefit from today and in the future. If HB 134 passes, we will be examples of what not to do in Texas.”
(Mays’ testimony echoed that of his predecessor, Karen Hunt, as documented in a 2021 article called “Coppell May Lose Millions in Sales Taxes.”)
Land testified that Coppell has invested heavily in roads, public safety, and emergency services to support the industrial operations on the west side of the city. Meyer’s bill would transfer sales tax revenue to “communities that neither have the investment nor bear the cost to support fulfillment centers,” Land said.
In his opening statement, Meyer pointed out that Texas is one of only 11 states that use origin sourcing; 35 use destination sourcing, and the remaining four don’t have sales taxes. Land acknowledged that but said origin sourcing is used in five of the seven top-producing states: Texas, California, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Meyer had nothing to say during the Coppell contingent’s testimony. However, Giovanni Capriglione, a Southlake resident who represents District 98, criticized Coppell for offering tax-abatement deals to many businesses.
“We’re paying taxes, and it’s not going to my city. It’s going to yours,” Capriglione said. “And you’re making the case that you’re helping everybody, but not really. You’re helping companies move to Coppell with these abatements.”
Land responded by pointing out what happens when Coppell residents patronize any of the restaurants and boutiques in Capriglione’s hometown: “When I shop in Southlake, the sales tax does not follow me back to Coppell, so I contribute to the Southlake economy.”
After two hours and 50 minutes of testimony, Meyer offered closing remarks to his fellow legislators.
“What we’re dealing with here is we’ve got a number, a very few loud folks who are opposed to this bill. That’s who you saw today,” Meyer said. “They are benefitting to the detriment of all of the other cities in Texas.”
Those “very few loud folks” were supplemented by 91 pages’ worth of written comments his committee received by 5 p.m. on Monday. That batch included contributions from more than 150 people who live and/or work in Coppell.
Activists Host Town Hall Without Van Duyne
Dozens of Democrats got together last week to vent about the Trump administration and their Congressional representative — who may have been watching online.
On Wednesday evening, nearly 200 people — including at least a few Coppell residents — gathered at Legends Hall in Southlake for a “Missing Member March Recess Town Hall” staged by a group of activists known as Indivisible TX-24. Their focus was Beth Van Duyne, who has represented Congressional District 24 since 2020.
The first 100 attendees were handed sticks bearing photos of Van Duyne. One of those was attached to a mannequin wearing a blonde wig. Just a few feet away, people wrote messages on a giant balloon made to look like President Donald Trump as a diapered baby.
Such events have been happening since Republican leadership advised GOP politicians to stop hosting in-person town halls due to hostile crowds. Coincidentally, one of the straws that broke the camel’s back was a Feb. 20 event hosted by Rep. Rich McCormick, to whom Van Duyne has been romantically linked.
Trump has asserted that in-person town hall meetings are filled with professional protesters. The ringleaders of Wednesday’s event were Benny De La Vega of Farmers Branch and Buddy Luce of Southlake, and Luce addressed such assertions from the start.
“None of y’all have been paid, right?” Luce said. “Let the record reflect that no hands have been raised.”
The speakers ranged from a Bedford teenager who said she is worried about the environment to a Vietnam-era veteran from Keller who expressed his concerns about the Department of Government Efficiency efforts led by Elon Musk.
“What scares me is that we may be too far gone now,” he said. “What Musk has done to our databases may not be repairable.”
Multiple attendees said they are thinking about running against Van Duyne, including Linsey Fagan, who was the Democratic nominee in Congressional District 26 in 2018. Fagan’s Facebook account was streaming Wednesday’s event, and she announced to the crowd that it appeared that Van Duyne was among the viewers.
Anybody who wants to challenge Van Duyne had better get to work, because the 2026 primaries will be decided in less than 12 months. And any Democrat seeking election in District 24 will have their work cut out for them; the gerrymandered district was drawn to favor Republicans, as it stretches from northeast Tarrant County to the Park Cities. Van Duyne may be able to hold onto the seat as long as she wants, just like her predecessor, Kenny Marchant.
Here’s how Van Duyne, a former Irving mayor, has fared in her three November elections:
2020 — When vying for the seat Marchant vacated, Van Duyne bested Candace Valenzuela, a former member of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees, by just 1.3 percentage points (48.8 percent to 47.5 percent).
2022 — Van Duyne got nearly 60 percent of the votes in her reelection campaign against Jan McDowell, who was the Democrats’ nominee for the third time in four cycles.
2024 — Van Duyne got more than 60 percent of the votes against Sam Eppler, a Dallas ISD principal who was a first-time candidate.
Although she did not make it to Southlake for Wednesday’s town hall, Van Duyne was seen across District 24 last week. Her email newsletter and social media accounts documented her attendance at a dinner hosted by the Park Cities Quail Coalition, her tour of the Darling Ingredients facility in Irving, and her meeting with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association in Carrollton.
OK, enough politics already! How about some crime news?
One-Man Crime Wave Crossed Into Coppell
On Thursday evening, the Coppell Police Department issued a news release about an incident with a lot of moving pieces. It said, in part:
“On March 20, at 5:40 pm, the Coppell Police Department (CPD) received a 911 call regarding a suspect who approached a person at a business parking lot in the 100 block of E SH-121 and demanded the keys to their vehicle. When it became apparent that the suspect would be unable to take the vehicle, the suspect utilized another vehicle to flee the scene, causing an accident involving multiple vehicles. The suspect then abandoned the vehicle and approached a second subject in the parking lot of a business in the 600 block of N Denton Tap Road. The suspect successfully obtained this vehicle and fled. Coppell Police Department officers are currently canvasing this area and are coordinating with other local law enforcement agencies.”
A reliable source provided me with a few details not mentioned in that release:
The person mentioned in the first sentence was a mother with a young child in her vehicle. The suspect was not able to take that vehicle because the mom grabbed her kid and ran away with her keys.
After failing to steal the mom’s vehicle, the suspect got back into the stolen vehicle he’d used to enter Coppell.
After causing the multi-vehicle accident, the suspect stole a vehicle from an employee of Tommy Tamale.
On Friday, the Dallas Police Department published a lengthy narrative about the suspect in question, who was identified as 55-year-old Gregory Noble. (55 years old?!?) That narrative says he was eventually apprehended by a SWAT team in West Dallas, not far from the trendy Trinity Groves complex. It says he robbed a bank on Thursday before coming to Coppell and stole at least seven vehicles that day. He faces multiple charges, of course, and the FBI is involved.
Chronicle Crumbs
• Both of Coppell High School’s varsity soccer teams won their playoff openers on Friday. Despite starting with a two-goal deficit, the Cowboys came back to beat Prosper on penalty kicks, 4-3; the boys will host Irving at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. The Cowgirls — who recorded a 4-1 victory over Plano East — will face Lake Highlands at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Highland Park.
• The Houston Chronicle recently ranked Texas school districts by their median household incomes, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Coppell ISD finished in the 10th position at $155,600. The top slot was shared by Highland Park ISD and Southlake’s Carroll ISD; both communities’ median household incomes exceeded $250,000.
• During this month’s meeting of the Coppell Library Advisory Board, Manager Alexis Wellborn announced that the Cozby Library and Community Commons’ operating hours will change on June 1 to accommodate earlier story times.
• Samit Patel’s tenure on the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission lasted for one meeting. In his March 16 resignation email, Patel said he was advised by City Attorney Bob Hager that he cannot serve as a commissioner while the city is paying him to design Coppell’s veterans memorial. Patel said he hoped to reapply for volunteer service after the memorial project is complete.
• The City of Coppell is continuing its tradition of honoring Coppell residents who are graduating from high school. If your kid goes to a school not affiliated with Coppell ISD, you have until April 4 to submit his or her name.
• Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1, which includes the northeast portion of Coppell, is accepting bids from companies that want to replace its stormwater pumps on Lake Vista Drive. If you want in on this action, submit your bid to Halff Associates by 1 p.m. on Friday.
• On Monday evening, the Lewisville City Council voted 5-0 to approve an outdoor amusement permit that will allow Vistara Sports to add 12 pickleball courts on a property that straddles the border of Lewisville and Coppell.
• The Lewisville City Council also voted 5-0 to approve a set of alternative zoning standards requested by a company called RunTime Centers that plans to build an unusual facility on the east side of Interstate 35E, just north of Fox Avenue. It will feature drive-thru lanes for three fast-food restaurants, but customers will not be able to go inside, nor will they be able to peruse a menu. Food will be ordered online, and a gate will prevent a customer from entering a lane until their grub is ready.
• On Thursday evening, before enduring hours of testimony on zoning changes requested by a casino developer, the Irving City Council took two votes related to alcohol sales in Valley Ranch and Las Colinas. A sports bar called Bru wants to take over a space at 8350 N. MacArthur Boulevard that was formerly occupied by I Love Pho. Its zoning change was approved on an 8-1 vote, with Abdul Khabeer dissenting. Meanwhile, a zoning change related to Curry Pizza House, which is moving into a space at 7600 N. MacArthur, was approved on a 7-2 vote, with Khabeer and Al Zapanta saying no.
Community Calendar
Neighbors Helping Neighbors: This one-day service project, scheduled for April 12, seeks to connect volunteers with Coppell residents who need assistance with home maintenance and repairs. Tomorrow is the deadline to submit a project request.
Assistance League of Coppell: Martha Thomas of The Defensive Line will speak at the meeting scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday at Valley Ranch Baptist Church. Members are invited to gather at 11 for social time and also to go out for lunch after the meeting.
Funding the Future: The State of Public Education Funding in Coppell ISD: A group called Communities United for Public Education will host a forum at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at the First United Methodist Church of Coppell. The speakers will include Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt and Board of Trustees President David Caviness. Registration is requested.
Disenchanted: Your favorite storybook heroines are tossing out their tiaras and coming back to life in a new musical comedy featuring adult content. Two performances are set for 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Coppell Arts Center.
Almost, Maine: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of the play about a place that’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. The first show is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday at the Coppell Arts Center.
Perennial Pass Along Plant Sale: The volunteers who maintain the Helping Hands Garden next to Coppell Town Center will sell perennials between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday. Prices will range from $5 to $20, and buyers must bring cash. Expert gardeners will also be prepared to answer questions.
Parent University - Suicide Prevention: Martha and Chris Thomas of The Defensive Line will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 2 p.m. on Saturday to discuss how to recognize warning signs of a mental health crisis, how to have difficult conversations, and how to formulate an informed plan of action.
We Are The Music Makers: The Coppell Community Chorale’s Coppell Chamber Singers will join forces with choir members from Dallas Baptist University, Festival Orchestra, special guest soloist Sabatina Mauro, and Coppell High School choirs at 3 p.m. on March 30 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Micro Habits, Major Results: Sustainable Weight Loss Without the Fads: Sprinkles of Nutrition founder Sinead Adedipe will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 3 p.m. on March 30 to discuss how you can achieve your health goals while still enjoying the foods you love.
Train and Help Babies Organization Fund Raising Event: The Train and Help Babies Organization was founded by Coppell residents Dr. Prakash Kabbur and Dr. Sumana Nanjundachar. Its annual fundraiser is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on March 30 at Atithi Venue in Plano.
Youth Pop-Up Market: The Jacaranda Gift Shop in Old Town is inviting young artists, artisans, bakers, and entrepreneurs to showcase their talents between 9 a.m. and noon on April 5.
Kaleidoscope: Coppell’s festival of color, culture, and music will happen from 3 to 7 p.m. on April 5 in Old Town.
Corrections I made after publishing this edition:
The Coppell Cowboys’ playoff soccer game against Irving will begin at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, not at 7.
Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1 includes the northeast portion of Coppell, not the northwest portion.
This is Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 5, not Vol. 5, No. 6.
Thanks Dan — we’ll look back and say the most farcical time in education for an entire generation.