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A Texas judge has denied Klein Independent School District’s request to be dismissed from a Title IX lawsuit stemming from allegations that a former teacher organized a sex trafficking ring and helped her son traffic students.
Kedria Grigsby, 42, a former cosmetology teacher at Klein Cain High School, was arrested last year and charged with three counts of compelling prostitution of a minor and three counts of trafficking a child, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Grigsby is accused of assisting in her son’s efforts in recruiting teen runaways from the school district for prostitution.
Desma Darden, a former special education teacher at the high school, filed a federal lawsuit in February alleging she told two of her supervisors and the sheriff’s office in March of 2023 that her teenage daughter had been subjected to human trafficking and prostitution by Grigsby and her son, Roger Magee.
She resigned two months later after being told she would be terminated if she didn’t do so, according to Darden’s lawsuit.
United States District Judge Alfred Bennett, in an order last month, partially granted an October motion that sought each party’s dismissal, including the school district, former Klein Cain High School Principal Nicole Patin, and Deedra Davis, an employee relations staffer in the school district.
While Bennett’s order dismisses Title IX allegations against Patin and Davis, it maintains that the school district can not be dismissed from the lawsuit, which is just one of several federal lawsuits stemming from the alleged sex trafficking ring. Bennett’s order also affirms magistrate judge’s recommendation on the case, according to court documents.
According to the order, Patin, Davis and the school district had argued that the magistrate judge improperly relied on “nonexistent facts” to conclude that the victim sufficiently alleged a Title IX claim against the school district. Bennett forfeited their objection and said that the court agrees that the victim adequately established criteria for a Title IX claim, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in public schools and retaliation against those who file the complaints.
The school district, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s decision Friday, previously disputed Darden’s allegations in a statement to Houston Public Media, saying she resigned in “lieu of a recommended termination following a documented pattern of unprofessional conduct and poor job performance.”
“The facts in this case are clear, and we are confident this matter was handled properly, lawfully, and without bias,” the district said. “Any suggestion otherwise is not only false — it’s irresponsible and dishonest. As with all litigation, our response will be in court, where facts — not manufactured narratives — carry weight.”