Elementary school principal indicted for covering up child molestation, keeps job

  

Community rallies together to hide student sexual assault.

Palestine, TX:  

The way the news is spun and suppressed in rural East Texas would make your skin crawl. Neches Elementary School, located in Anderson County, made the national press again after the school board extended the contract of their recently indicted principal Kimberlyn Snider. (Source: KLTV- Neches ISD principal indicted for alleged role in sex assault investigation)  Snider was charged with coercing children and teachers to lie to investigators after a student was sexually assaulted. (Source: KLTV Neches principal’s personnel file letters allege she coerced statements from students during investigation) The facts of the actual molestation are conveniently buried in small town feuds. For several years, Snider has been embroiled in multiple online recall petitions after being accused of retaliating against teachers and bullying students. The molestation involves Neches ISD students yet no reported arrests have been made, other than the principal's own tampering charges. Even though investigators interviewed parents and faculty of Neches Elementary, local media attempts to report the victim as "not a Neches ISD student" while covering up the identity of the molester. Reporters were hesitant at first to confirm the child attended Neches ISD. Nightly news casts adamantly deny the victim attends Neches ISD, even though Snider claims to have conducted "her own investigation" per her personnel file. She is said to have interjected herself onto other campuses.

Ok boys and girls, one of your friends who doesn't go to this Elementary or any school in the district was NOT molested by faculty or someone NOT attending Neches ISD. Even though I'm facing over a dozen complaints about bullying students and staff, you better keep your mouth shut about something we know NOTHING about that did NOT happen at Neches ISD. Same goes for your teachers who SAW and HEARD nothing...

Indicted Palestine, TX elementary school principal Kimberlyn Snider is not on administrative leave thanks to her husband- the Neches ISD superintendent.  

The elementary school principal is accused of threatening to lock down students and terminate witnesses to get them to change their statements. School Board members are mum as to the age of the victim, where the assault occurred; and Snider's and their relationship to the perpetrator. If a child is assaulted by a school employee or another student on or off campus, the public deserves to know about it. Notice the media's focus is solely on what Principal Snider did or did not do, not on the actual molestation. Authorities know if the molester is allowed to roam free, then Snider's charges will be eventually dismissed, especially if it involves a High School date rapist in the family clique.

The indictments, one [felony] count of “tampering fabricating evidence” and five counts of “official oppression,” against Kimberlyn Ann Snider were handed down on Wednesday, January 27 with Snider’s accused actions allegedly taking place on September 29, 2020. The indictment lists five different people whom Snider allegedly subjected “to detention that the defendant knew was unlawful ... acting under color here employment as a public servant, namely Neches Elementary Principal.” (Source: KLTV, Neches ISD principal indicted for alleged role in sex assault investigation)

 

Despite growing citizen opposition, the Neches Independent School District 'voted' to extend indicted elementary school principal Kim Snider’s contract without disciplinary action. 

Snider's husband Randy Snider is the Neches ISD superintendent; both employ a taxpayer provided Neches ISD attorney to represent them. Kimberlyn Snider has plead not guilty to the charges according to news sources. She faces up to 15 years in prison. The Texas Education Agency is reviewing the case. Principal Snider has been accused of "bullying" students in the past and the target of small town politicking throughout her tenure. Neches ISD trustees (and her husband) have always sided with her. However there is more effort from concerned citizens to remove Snider from her position than there is to prosecute the molestation.

A Tri-County pedophile ring operates in plain sight with the backing of public officials.

Because the child sex assault occurred at Neches ISD, and as a friend of the family has access to elementary school age children, their identity has been hidden. An outsider would have been arrested on the spot, with their name and face plastered all over the place. Insiders get cozy plea bargains and continue to work around children, with the support of judges, prosecutors, attorneys, and law enforcement within their clique. They keep their own kids enrolled within the same school district to perpetuate the cycle. Allies in the small town newspaper write misleading stories as part of the cover up. During jury selection they promote registered sex offenders as local charity cases with glowing write-ups.

(Source:  About 30 take part in rally calling for removal of Neches Elementary School Principal Kimberlyn Snider, KETK)

Local pedophiles serve on juries as insurance to keep district court cases from being overturned.

In 2013, school board member Joshua Kincade faced child porn charges after being caught with nude photos of a Neches ISD student on his cellphone (Source: Neches ISD school board member charged with possession of child porn, KLTV) Anderson County investigators obtained a search warrant and seized several devices from Kincade’s home. Kincade was elected to the Neches Independent School District School Board in November 2012. His wife worked as a 4th Grade teacher at the Neches Elementary School with Principal Kim Snider. She was terminated in 2015 for participating in a “Change for Neches” Facebook group and posting derogatory remarks against Snider. (Source: Palestine Herald) In typical East Texas fashion, the outcome of Joshua Kincade's child porn possession case was buried to protect the School District from scrutiny and lawsuits. (Source: Palestine Herald-Press)

Joshua Kincade, Neches ISD school board trustee

As a footnote, on May 17, 2021 the Neches ISD School Board accepted the resignation of superintendent Randy Snider effective in June (Source: KETK). Snider's wife is still employed at Neches Elementary. The school district and Anderson County authorities continue the smokescreen as to the identity of the child molester. As in neighboring Cherokee County, this means the perpetrator is well-known in the community and their family serves on grand juries or is part of the district court jury pools.

Randy Snider, Neches ISD superintendent  

June 23, 2021: To follow up, Neches ISD has filed a lawsuit against the Texas AG to overturn FOIA requests regarding the molestation and subsequent cover up. Lawyers representing both Kimberlyn Snider and the Neches ISD have filed motions in Austin in an effort to block open records responses from the Texas Attorney General’s office. The motions are “not intended to thwart transparency,” claims the attorneys. (Source: KETK) Their argument is that the Texas Public Information Act is excluded from releasing derogatory details of the case, even after the redaction of personal information, i.e. the identity of the victim "in another case" they claim does not attend Neches Elementary. They do admit however the records involve “current and former employees and students of NISD; ” i.e. the molester they quietly dismissed and all the witnesses. The FOIA requests come from a concerned citizens group and not from the lapdog East Texas media. Snider's pre-trial hearing is set for June 25, 2021.

As the Neches ISD continues to lawyer up, there will be a concerted effort to postpone and dismiss these cases outright, while they discredit the victim's family to avoid having the pants sued off the School Board. They don't want the molestation to be exposed. After months of spin, local media and authorities have not officially disclosed the circumstances surrounding the child sex assault or the Elementary School principal's alleged witness tampering on a case they claim occurred out of the school district.

July 9, 2021 update: KETK reports principal Kimberlyn Snider has vacated her position at Neches Elementary, but still remains employed under contract with Neches ISD. (Source: KETK, Kimberlyn Snider no longer principal at Neches Elementary; district seeking to fill post )  

March 15, 2022 update: KETK reports a mistrial declared for Kimberlyn Snider and her attorney after the jury was empaneled to hear the interfering with a child sex assault investigation case (Source: KETK, Mistrial announced for former Neches ISD principal after attorney has medical emergency in court ). Local media continues their caveat "the alleged victim is not a student in the elementary school;" however the attacker Snider was covering for attends Neches ISD. A new trial date has not been set. 

October 14, 2022 update: KETK reports after a 5 day trial in the 87th District Court in Anderson County, Kimberlyn Snider was found NOT GUILTY on all charges. The identity of the student she was accused of covering for was not released.