A former tutor from Akins High School, Isaiah Xavier Smith, has been arrested by Austin Independent School District police on a charge of indecency with a child by contact, a second-degree felony; the alleged incident involved a student at the school. Smith, who provided college readiness tutoring, was terminated in October shortly after allegations of indecency surfaced. Austin ISD emphasized its commitment to student safety, having swiftly terminated Smith's access to the school upon receiving the report of misconduct on Oct. 25, as reported by CBS Austin.
While Austin ISD acts in response to the incident at Akins High School, it has come to light that Smith had been previously employed as a juvenile corrections officer at Giddings State School, and was fired for misconduct involving a minor a year earlier Smith took on the role at Akins in September 2023 and was being investigated by the end of the next month, after a high school student alleged Smith had touched him inappropriately in a computer lab, according to KXAN.
Smith’s work history and the investigation into his behavior bring to light the disconnect between different systems vetting school employees in Texas. After being dismissed from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) for turning off his body-worn camera during an incident that launched a sexual misconduct investigation, Smith was indicted in January 2024 for a different case. However, the database where TJJD flagged Smith was not accessible to schools, and his employment by Austin Partners in Education slipped through the cracks of this fragmented system.
Texas Sen. Paul Bettencourt has reacted to these revelations by requesting a thorough explanation from both TJJD and the Texas Education Agency, promising to propose new legislation to address the gaps in existing laws, which, in this situation, failed to prevent Smith's movement between educational settings despite the serious allegations against him, as per KXAN.
In response to queries about the hiring oversight, TJJD noted that Smith had been flagged in their system. Still, the flag didn't extend outside the juvenile justice facilities, leaving educational institutions like Austin ISD vulnerable to unknowingly hiring individuals under investigation for misconduct. The case of Isaiah Xavier Smith is turning into a point of contention and a call to action for more rigorous and interconnected vetting procedures to ensure that those who have allegations of harming minors do not gain access to students.
