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The Southlake Carroll ISD board voted in a new president Monday night, following this month’s special election in which a third Southlake Families PAC-endorsed candidate won a seat, tilting the balance of the board to the right.
Trustees voted unanimously to name Eric Lannen president, ending Michelle Moore’s tenure.
Lannen was elected to a three-year term in May 2020 in an uncontested election. He is the chief human resources officer for Archaea Energy, according to his LinkedIn account. He also serves on the Crime Control & Prevention Board for the city and has been a volunteer and supporter of Young Life Ministries for over 30 years, according to his biography on the district website.
Lannen made a motion to name Moore as vice president, but the board did not support the vote.
Moore, who has been a board member since 2015, told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday that she “fully supports” Lannen as the board’s new president.
“Regarding the failed motion for me to serve as vice president, I believe my tenure and experience would have been of value going forward, but it’s clear that politics rather than unity or teamwork is of greater value,” she said.
The Southlake Families PAC, a group that says it is “unapologetically rooted in Judeo-Christian values,” endorsed Lannen as well as Hannah Smith and Cameron Bryan, celebrating their victories in the May elections. Andrew Yeager, who won the Nov. 2 special election and was sworn in at the meeting Monday, also had the support of the PAC.
The vote for a new president came shortly before it was made public that the U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into allegations of discrimination in the district.
The investigation is the latest facet of a series of controversies that began when parents challenged a plan to make the Southlake school district more inclusive to students of color. Moore was one of two trustees indicted in April on charges of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act after months of controversy surrounding the diversity plan.
The controversies have included the reprimand of a teacher after complaints about an anti-racist book and a secret recording of a Carroll ISD administrator telling teachers that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also have materials that show an “opposing” perspective.
The trustees also discussed Monday a policy change that would prohibit employees from recording meetings.
Last week, Carroll ISD Superintendent Lane Ledbetter apologized to the school community for being distracted by the recent controversies.