Undercover Video Prompts Texas School Official’s Resignation Over Transgender Athlete Policy

A day after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded criminal and civil investigations into the Irving Independent School District, an administrator resigned Wednesday amid the uproar over his comments about circumventing a state law regarding transgender athletes.

“This Irving ISD Administrator should be fired on the spot,” Abbott wrote on X after an undercover video appeared to show the administrator discussing ways to get around a 2022 state law.

The video, produced by the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media, shows Irving ISD’s director of campus operations, Reny Lizardo, discussing how a transgender athlete could compete on a sports team that does not align with the student’s biological sex. Texas law requires student athletes to compete on teams that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate. 

“It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught, right?” Lizardo told the undercover journalist.  

“If no one knew … then we’re good. … If a parent found out, or a student found out, and said, ‘Wait a minute, this person isn’t this gender,’ and they sued the district, we’d be in trouble.” Lizardo continued, “But we could also say, ‘We didn’t know.’” 

Lizardo also told the undercover journalist that students do not “technically” need a birth certificate to enroll, though the school district would ask for the document. 

Irving Independent School District, located in the Dallas metro area, issued a statement Wednesday claiming the individual did not speak on behalf of the school district.

“The individual identified was acting outside of his role as it relates to legal and regulatory expertise,” the statement said. “While the matter continues to be under investigation, the individual identified in the video has tendered his resignation. The resignation was accepted upon receipt in accordance with district policy.”

In 2022, Abbott signed the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” the law requiring student athletes to play on the team that aligns with their sex. In its statement Wednesday, the school district confirmed that “all Irving ISD student-athletes are participating in their sport in accordance with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

The governor reacted swiftly to AIM’s investigation Tuesday. 

“Both criminal & civil investigations must be taken against both the Administrator & Irving ISD,” Abbott wrote. “Has Irving ISD and its employees been involved in a fraudulent breach of state laws & a cover up? We must get the facts.”

In conjunction with the release of the investigation, AIM launched a website enabling citizens to contact elected officials about taking corrective measures against Texas schools that ignore state laws.  

This is not the first time Texas public schools were caught violating state laws. 

In an interview with The Daily Signal in 2023, Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette said public schools in Texas continued to teach critical race theory (CRT) and the New York Times’ 1619 Project without the knowledge of parents. 

CRT suggests race is a social and cultural construct designed to oppress non-white racial groups. The 1619 Project applies the CRT framework to American history, boosting “claims of victimization by white supremacy,” according to an article by The Daily Signal. 

“All over Texas, administrators are pushing critical race theory into every facet of public education,” Guillette said during the interview. 

He stated anti-CRT laws “provide a false sense of security to parents in Texas.” 

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