The Mysterious Case Concerning Christoval High School's Band Director

A disciplinary dispute between the band director at Christoval High School and the Christoval ISD Superintendent is making the sleepy bedroom community south of San Angelo famous in the regional press.

The local CBS affiliate KOSA-TV in Odessa picked up the story seven days ago, followed by the San Antonio Express-News and finally, TexasMonthly.com blogged about it.

The original CBS7 news report:

Christoval ISD didn’t immediately respond to requests from media for their side of the story, not even for CBS7, which fed the storyline that band director Darrington White was suspended with pay only for having a beard that violated grooming standards. White showed the Odessa television reporter, Lauren Lanmon, a doctor’s note from Shannon Clinic’s Dr. Dawn Gonzalez stating that White should avoid shaving as to not aggravate White’s condition called “tinea barbae”. It was a slam-dunk case in favor of Mr. White, it seemed.

Finally, Superintendent David Walker issued a statement Wednesday.

“As I am sure you are well aware, to protect both the employee and the school district, we do not discuss ongoing personnel matters with the media, with parents, or with other employees.  Often matters such as these are discussed in closed meeting.  I know this may be frustrating for our parents and students, but please understand we respect Mr. White's right to the privacy of his personal issues related to his employment.  The school district continues to work through this process and provide any requested information to the proper authorities, at the proper time, so this matter can be resolved,” Walker wrote in an email.

Walker and the district’s President of the Board of Trustees Duff Hallman both agree that their desire is to have a positive outcome for Mr. White, the employees at the district, and especially the students.

The trail of the disciplinary action suggests there is possibly more involved than just grooming standards, however. Mr. White’s grievance bypassed his immediate supervisor, Christoval High School Principal John Choate and immediately went to what school districts call a “Level II” complaint with the superintendent. One would surmise that if the ordeal involved just a grooming standards complaint, the school principal could handle it.

Nonetheless, at Level II, White apparently was not satisfied with Superintendent Walker’s decision, so he appealed to the school board, escalating the issue to what is called a Level III. The school board unanimously backed the superintendent. White’s course of action now involves taking his complaint to an agency outside the district, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, for example. Or, White could plead his side of the case to the news media, which is so far what he has done.

Who is Gina Hielckert?

For months, a woman named Gina Hielckert badgered San Angelo LIVE! through private messages to our Facebook page to look into not only the plight of band director Darrington White, but Superintendent David Walker as well.

It was Walker she was most concerned about, it seems.

From Gina Hielckert  on Mar 11^th at 5:49 p.m.:

“Here's a news story for you. Christoval ISD's Superintendent Dr. David Walker has been the superintendent in Christoval for the last 7 years and has yet balanced the school budget. He fails to provide the departments with their annual budget as well as providing the students of this district with the necessary learning tools for their classes, yet he has a $50,000.00 annual discretionary fund that he doesn't have to account for. He has failed to provide them with a science lab and has staff members doing double duties with the pay of their original position.  So what does Dr. Walker focus on??? Not solving any of the above issues that’s for sure...No, Dr. Walker's main focus this year is harassing and discriminating against their band director for wearing a very well trimmed well groomed goatee.  A goatee that is medically necessary to have.  The band director who in the 3 years he's been there has grown the band program and taken the band and won the UIL Sweepstakes the last 3 years. The band director has filed a grievance against Dr. Walker, which to date has gone past the level 3 stage.  The next step for the band director.....filing an EEOC complaint....why is this man, Dr. Walker who by the way is the Title IX coordinator for the Christoval school district and is required by law to report any violation including racial discrimination and/or harrassment. Dr. Walker has a policy in place that discriminates against black male employees....so by law he should be reporting himself.....maybe someone should look into the wrong doings of Dr. Walker not only against the band director, but any and all employees he has wronged!” she wrote.

I responded, indicating that as a Christoval High School parent, I was not aware of any problems, other than a strict basketball coach assigned to my daughter’s team. She replied on March 15.

“Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the basketball coach other than my source says there have been several concerns/complaints about their coaching practices. I'm trying to bring to light the fact that the superintendent has been and is failing the students and faculty in many ways and clearly having a basketball coach who belittles his students by saying they didn't pray hard enough just proves my point even more. Why does Christoval have such high teacher turnover rate? Why doesn't the agricultural dept,  science dept, band and fine arts have the proper funds/ budget to effectively supply students with things they need in order to learn? Why doesn't the superintendent use money from his discretionary fund to pay for the shortages in the budget? Why is the superintendent in the middle of a level 3 grievance with a teacher over facial hair, which by the way if he doesn't watch himself will be sent to the EEOC as a discrimination and then the fate of the Christoval ISD will be in the hands of the Federal Government? Why isn't Dr. Walkers main focus on the children and providing them with the best education possible or any of the above?  The school board and superintendent will blame it on the bond failing in 2013....but from what I hear, the residents didn't trust Dr Walker. People of Christoval wake up ask questions and demand better for your kids,” Hielckert wrote.

I didn’t respond, but asked around to find out who in this tiny school district knew Heilckert. No one ever heard of her. On April 26, Gina was back, sending a message gushing about finally getting a news organization to air White’s side of the story:

“Lauren Lanmon from CBS 7 in Odessa is the reporter that heard about the racial discrimination against Mr. White at the hands of Dr. Walker and has contacted Mr. White about an interview. She has left many messages for Dr. Walker who has failed to return her calls.  I'd like to urge the parents and students to contact her and provide her with any and all information that they have about Dr. Walker.  Let's get this matter and all the other issues and wrong doings at the hand of this incompetent fool who is running (if that's what you want to call it) Christoval ISD on the air.  You can e-mail her at [email protected].  Lets get Dr. Walker out of your school and Mr. White back with his students,” Hielckert wrote.

On May 2, the story aired and Hielckert posted a link to the video of the Odessa TV story. I asked her on May 5 what her connection to Christoval was, since no one I talked to knew or heard of her, other than seeing her rants against Walker on Facebook. Odessa’s TV reporter referred to her only as a “Christoval band supporter”. The conversation went like this:

Me (on May 5):  Gina-- My daughter says Mr. White is an awesome teacher. What is your connection with Mr. White? –Joe

Gina Hielckert: What is your connection to San Angelo Live?

Me: I own it

Gina Hielckert: Well that just told me all I need to know. Thank you.

Me: The question is sincere. I cannot find anyone in Christoval who knows you. One of the people I interviewed today said you were his girlfriend?

Gina Hielckert: Does it really matter who I am or what my connection is to Mr. White? The fact still remains that Dr. Walker is an incompetent moron who has broken many laws and clearly doesn't have the best interest of the kids and I have no problem making it known and bringing this guy down.

Hielckert went silent after this exchange and never did tell me what her connection to Christoval was.

I asked Dr. Walker about his alleged $50,000 slush fund. He vehemently denied all of the charges, and went into detail about how closely the financial concerns of the school district are monitored and accounting tasks are separated. Small districts like Christoval do not have a dedicated CFO, he said, but the separation of bookkeeping workflows and school board oversight are in place to prevent anyone from misusing taxpayer money.

As for Ms. Hielckert, identified thus far only as a Christoval ISD band supporter, a records search turns up a Gina Hielckert living in Mertzon, a town in a rival school district west of Christoval.

On May 13, the Christoval ISD board meets. The agenda for that meeting reveals that the board will discuss personnel issues in closed session and possibly make a change to the employee handbook on grooming standards.

As Hallman and Walker said, the district is seeking a positive outcome, if Gina Hielckert will let them.

Update Sunday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Darrington White reached out to us after this artilcle was published. He said that he filed a grievance at each level and followed procedure. He said that the only issue at hand with his suspension is his goatee, nothing more.