The TEA determined allegations against James Whitfield, superintendent at Treetops School International in Euless, were unfounded.
A Euless charter school superintendent has been cleared of wrongdoing following a months-long investigation by the Texas Education Agency.
Last summer, a contingent of parents at Treetops School International accused James Whitfield, who joined the campus in 2023, of financial mismanagement and of failing to report an alleged incident of physical abuse by a teacher.
At the time, the parents were vocal in their displeasure with Whitfield’s leadership, but there was little in the way of concrete evidence to support the claims against him. Much of the uproar came after Treetops administrators voted to adopt a four-day school week and eliminate seventh through 12 grades beginning with the 2025-26 school year.
The school now operates as a kindergarten through sixth grade campus.
Based on at least one parental complaint, the TEA opened a formal investigation into Whitfield in the summer of 2025. On Feb. 18, the agency notified Whitfield that the investigation had concluded, and the investigative warning had been removed from his TEA educator certificate.
Whitfield shared a copy of the letter he received from the TEA informing him the case was closed. In that letter, a TEA investigator said the allegations against Whitfield were unfounded, and there was no evidence of rules violations that could have impacted Whitfield’s educator certification.
In an email sent to Whitfield, the TEA investigator responsible for the case thanked Whitfield for his cooperation and wished him the best.
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“It was really relieving to finally get that letter,” Whitfield said in a phone conversation. He added that while he knew all along the accusations were baseless, it was nonetheless difficult to have his professional future in the hands of other people
In 2020, Whitfield became the first Black principal at Colleyville Heritage High School. A year later, he and the Grapevine-Colleyville school district parted ways after Whitfield was accused of promoting Critical Race Theory, the idea that racism is embedded in America’s social and political fabric. Whitfield denied that allegation, characterizing it as a racist attack.
Two years after leaving Colleyville Heritage, Whitfield joined Treetops. He told the Star-Telegram last year he had initially been welcomed warmly by Treetops families.
In February 2025, Treetops’ board of directors decided to move to a four-day schedule and close the upper school. Board President Mike Sacken, a retired education professor at TCU, said closing the upper school was a necessary step to keep Treetops financially solvent.
According to what Sacken told parents at a May 2025 board meeting, the school needed an additional $75,000 to $100,000 a year to continue operating as a kindergarten through 12th grade institution.
Still, parents were angry that they’d need to find new schools for their older children and arrangements for their younger children to be home one day a week.
One parent who supported Whitfield told the Star-Telegram the allegations against the superintendent stemmed from those decisions.
“A lot of people are mistaking inconvenience to their lives for injustice,” she said.
As for the alleged abuse incident, some parents said Whitfield didn’t act appropriately when notified that a teacher had put her hands around a student’s neck.
The teacher argued she had done that in a playful manner. The student’s mother, however, told the Star-Telegram the teacher left a mark on her son’s neck. A police report was never filed, but the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigated.
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services would not comment, but Whitfield told the Star-Telegram last year that nothing came of the investigation.
The teacher at the center of the accusation was not employed at Treetops this year. The TEA was still investigating her as of Feb. 19, according to a notice on her teaching certificate.
Whitfield told the Star-Telegram this school year had been positive, and he was happy to put last year’s challenges behind him. He said the focus going forward is to raise awareness about Treetops and grow enrollment. The school’s board is also pursuing approval from the TEA to offer virtual or hybrid instruction for older students, possibly enabling them to reinstate upper grade levels.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Matt Adams is a news reporter covering Fort Worth, Tarrant County and surrounding areas. He previously wrote about aviation and travel and enjoys a good weekend road trip. Matt joined the Star-Telegram in January 2025.