A mother has filed a federal lawsuit against Austin Independent School District, alleging the district failed to prevent a band teacher’s sexual grooming and abuse of her 16‑year‑old son.
Texas Scorecard reported that Rodney Tyrone Childers, a 43‑year‑old band teacher at LBJ Early College High School, was arrested in 2024 on multiple felony sex crimes after allegedly sending nude photos and videos, grooming, and sexually assaulting the student on and off school property.
The complaint says Childers was charged with an improper educator‑student relationship, indecency with a child by exposure, child grooming, online solicitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.
The lawsuit accuses Austin ISD of deliberate indifference that enabled and prolonged the abuse, asserting the district ignored the student’s vulnerability and failed to act after the mother reported the abuse to district police on July 21, 2024.
According to the filing, Childers used his position to build trust, provide gifts and cash, offer rides and haircuts, exchange sexual texts, solicit nude images and commit multiple assaults, some in an unsupervised band room.
The complaint also notes that the district’s band director, Don Hayes, questioned the student in spring 2024 but took no further action, and that AISD police did not interview Childers until ten days after the mother’s report, despite district policies designating the police as the reporting channel.
For more information, visit texasscorecard.com.