.png)
FORNEY, TX – WFAA recently interviewed Russell Button, founder and daycare injury attorney at The Button Law Firm, about a disturbing child abuse investigation involving a former Forney ISD elementary school principal and special education teacher.
The investigation raises questions that every parent should care about: What happens when concerning information exists before someone is hired to work with children? What happens when new concerns surface after that person enters the classroom? And who is responsible for stepping in to protect the children?
The Button Law Firm (BLF) does not represent the families involved in this matter. Our team was asked to provide insight because we represent kids in daycare and child injury cases to help them get life-changing results and justice against bad daycares, schools, and companies that abuse and neglect the safety of children.
What WFAA Uncovered About the Forney ISD Investigation
WFAA reported that former Crosby Elementary School Principal Wendy Bailey was arrested and charged with endangering a child and failure to report after concerns involving special education teacher Jonathan Michael.
Those concerns did not begin at Forney ISD.
WFAA reported that Michael's employment history included an incident in which he broke a special education student's arm and a separate report involving inappropriate conduct with another special education student. He had also previously been arrested on an indecency with a child charge and was later acquitted.
Michael later changed his name before applying again to Forney ISD. WFAA reported that investigators uncovered communications between Bailey and Michael before the name change, and Michael's father told investigators that his son said Bailey could hire him if he changed his name. After doing so, Michael reapplied and was hired as a special education teacher in an elementary school.
For Russell, this history raises a much bigger child safety question: Was this the safest person the school could have chosen to place around children?
Changing a name does not change the information already known about someone's history. Schools have hiring and screening systems for a reason, and every decision within those systems should come back to protecting the children who will ultimately be placed in that person's care.
More Concerns Surfaced After Michael Was Hired
What happened after Michael entered the classroom makes those earlier warning signs even more troubling.
WFAA reported that two teacher's aides went to Bailey after witnessing Michael inappropriately touching a special education student and making sexually explicit comments around students. Rather than reporting what the aides witnessed to outside investigators, the child and one classroom aide were moved to another room.
Michael was also reported to have physically harmed two special education students, including pushing one child into a bookshelf and pinning another to the floor with his knee.
When WFAA asked Russell about the case, he explained that schools already have systems designed to prevent situations like this. Background checks, hiring procedures, supervision, and mandatory reporting requirements are meant to create layers of protection around children.
But those protections depend on adults making decisions with children's safety as the number one priority.
For our team, that is what makes this story so difficult. When warning signs are dismissed, rules are bent, or reports are not properly handled, children and their families are the ones who pay the price.
What Russell and The Button Law Firm Want Parents to Know
During the WFAA interview, Russell shared practical lessons our team has learned from handling daycare abuse and child injury cases.
Parents have every right to ask questions about the people caring for their children. Ask schools and daycares how employees are screened, what background checks are completed, how staff members are supervised, and how concerns about an employee are handled.
Russell also encourages parents to regularly talk with their children about what happens at school or daycare. These conversations do not have to begin because something is wrong. Asking open-ended questions about their day can help children know they have a safe place to talk when something does not feel right.
If your child shares something concerning, remain calm and let them explain it in their own words. Write down what they tell you as close to verbatim as possible and photograph anything physically visible.
Families can then take those concerns outside the school or daycare by contacting law enforcement or the appropriate child protection agency. Parents do not need to have every answer or know exactly what happened before asking for help.
Helping Families When the Systems Meant to Protect Children Fail
Cases involving schools and daycares are rarely just about what one person did. Our job is also to understand how that person was placed around children, what warning signs existed, who knew about them, and what opportunities there were to intervene.
At The Button Law Firm, we help families find those answers. We preserve evidence, obtain records, investigate what happened behind the scenes, and work with our in-house Child Advocate to understand what a child experienced and what resources may help them move forward.
Children deserve adults who put their safety first. Families deserve answers when that does not happen. And every school and daycare entrusted with children should be held accountable for the decisions it makes about their safety.
If your child has been harmed at a school or daycare, call The Button Law Firm at 214-699-4409, email intake@buttonlawfirm.com, or fill out our contact form to share your story or experience with our team.
