Edinburg school employees sued over 2024 nude exercise incident
The father of a student at Robert Vela High School sued three Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District employees this month on behalf of his minor son, alleging the school’s head football coach forced his son to exercise naked last year and that administrators at the district failed to hold that coach accountable.
Raul Rocha claims that in a suit filed earlier this month that on or about March 22, 2024 Vela High Head Football Coach Ernie Alonzo ordered his son to perform “strenuous physical exercise completely nude” and wouldn’t allow that student to “preserve any shred of dignity by covering himself with his underwear” while he did so.
“The exercise served no purpose beyond humiliation and domination,” the suit says.
Alonzo, along with Vela Principal Michelle Peña and ECISD Athletic Director Oscar Salinas, are named as defendants in the suit. The school district is not.
ECISD didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did Alonzo, Peña or Salinas.
In early April of 2024 Rocha’s attorney, Javier Peña, called for accountability related to the incident.
The district issued a statement saying it was conducting an investigation.
Late that same month the Progress Times submitted an open records request for documents and communication related to the incident.
The district successfully requested an attorney general’s opinion allowing it to withhold that information.
That opinion cited section 552.101 of the Texas Government Code along with section 261.201 of the Family Code, which relates in part to the confidentiality of information dealing with alleged or suspected child abuse or neglect.
The Progress Times obtained a WhatsApp group thread of students incredulously discussing the incident.
“We had to get out the locker room n when we didn’t get out on time [Alonzo] made jv n (sic) varsity locker room do up downs for whoever still in there,” one of the messages read.
An up-down is a type of exercise.
The suit alleges that a police investigation was initiated and an ECISD police investigator even said there was a credible case against Alonzo, but claims that investigation was halted in favor of a “toothless internal review” that left Alonzo as the school’s head football coach.
“There was no criminal referral. No public accountability,” it says. “Only silence and political coverup. The cover up was rushed before the new school board was sworn into (sic) to protect the political hires and to tie the hands of the incoming board members.”
Edinburg CISD hired Ernie Alonzo as Vela High’s head football coach in February of 2024.
Alonzo was at the time the defensive coordinator at McAllen High School and had previously worked as an assistant coach at Vela and Weslaco High.
The suit alleges that Alonzo had faced allegations of inappropriate behavior at McAllen ISD.
McAllen ISD declined to comment on the suit.
The suit also alleges that Alonzo had political ties in Edinburg that secured his hiring at ECISD over other candidates for head coach.
“Their backing—not his qualifications—paved the way for his appointment,” it says.
The suit lists a number of causes of action, including civil assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and intrusion upon seclusion.
Rocha is suing for an amount between $250,000 and $1 million.
