LION

LION

Local Integrity Oversight Network

Wylie ISD

LION (Local Integrity Oversight Network) has been engaged with Wylie Independent School District since April 7, 2026, when LION filed the first of four Public Information Act requests on the January 13, 2026 Literature Review Committee approval of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon for required AP English Literature reading at Wylie East High School. The documentary base for the engagement is four Texas Public Information Act requests (WYLIEISD-PIA-001 through PIA-004) and a six-message superintendent-channel correspondence that ran from April 28 through May 19, 2026.

Plainly: Wylie ISD substantively backed away from Song of Solomon but won’t conform the formal record to match.

Wylie ISD Superintendent Dr. Kim Spicer has stated in writing that Song of Solomon will not be assigned as required reading, will not appear on independent reading lists or approved classroom libraries, and “does not align with the expectations and values of our school board and community.” On May 19, 2026, Dr. Spicer declined to rescind the January 13, 2026 Literature Review Committee approval that put the novel into AP Literature in the first place. The district’s position is that formal rescission is available only through the EFA(LOCAL) reconsideration process. The district’s own policies say the Board of Trustees holds ultimate authority over instructional materials.

Procedural posture, as of June 8, 2026

On the records side, the district demanded a $3,798 bond before producing the internal communications LION requested on novel content-suitability evaluations (WYLIEISD-PIA-002, May 11, 2026; 5,493 emails at 211 hours × $15 per hour plus 20% overhead). LION narrowed the scope on May 20; the district accepted the narrowing on May 26. As of June 8, 2026, no revised cost estimate has issued, no production on the narrowed request has arrived, and the Texas Government Code §552.267 public-interest fee waiver LION invoked at filing has never been ruled on, despite §552.267’s mandatory-determination requirement when the waiver is invoked. The January 13, 2026 LRC approval stays in place; the records dispute is pending.

LION’s correspondence with Wylie ISD is being preserved for the public record and indexed by PIA reference number. Each item on the Updates feed below is anchored to the primary source document it describes.

Updates

  • Wylie ISD accepts LION’s narrowed scope on the $3,798 Song of Solomon internal-communications request

    On May 26, 2026 at 7:53 AM Central Time, Ian M. Halperin, Executive Director of Community Relations & Marketing, replied to LION’s May 20 response to the $3,798 cost notice on WYLIEISD-PIA-002 — the LION request for internal communications among Wylie ISD administrators, Literature Review Committee members, and campus staff regarding the content-suitability evaluation of any approved-list novel.

    In LION’s May 20 response, LION had operated under four Texas Public Information Act provisions — Government Code §552.267 (public-interest fee waiver), §552.222(b) (narrowing the request scope), §552.269 (overcharge complaint), and §552.2615 (cost-estimate framework) — and proposed substantially narrowed search parameters: Song of Solomon-specific communications only, named custodians, time window August 1, 2025 to April 28, 2026.

    Halperin’s reply accepted LION’s proposed narrowing, stating: “Narrowing the scope of the request will substantially reduce the fees associated with this request, particularly the portion related to custodians, without removing any responsive documents. I will perform a new search based on your revisions.” The reply did not separately rule on LION’s §552.267 public-interest fee waiver demand.

    As of this writing, no revised cost estimate, no production on the narrowed request, and no written determination on the §552.267 waiver have been received from Wylie ISD.

    Source: Email from Ian M. Halperin (OpenRecords@wylieisd.net) to LION on WYLIEISD-PIA-002, May 26, 2026, 7:53 AM CT.

    Errors or corrections: corrections@lionwatchtx.org

View all Wylie ISD updates →

District Profile

Board of Trustees

Seven-member elected Board of Trustees. Officer roles assigned by the Board after each November election cycle.

  • Bill Howard — Place 3, Board President — term to November 2028.
  • Kylie Reising — Place 7, Vice President — term to November 2028.
  • Virdie Montgomery — Place 5, Secretary — term to November 2026.
  • Jacob Day, Ph.D. — Place 6 — term to November 2026.
  • Stacie Smith — Place 1 — term to November 2026.
  • Suzi Kennon — Place 4 — term to November 2028.
  • Mike Williams — Place 2 — term to November 2026.
Administration

Superintendent — Dr. Kim Spicer.

Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum — Stephen Davis, Ed.D. (an automatic member of the Literature Review Committee per the district’s LRC Guidelines).

Executive Director of Community Relations & Marketing — Ian M. Halperin (also functions as Public Information Officer).

Wylie ISD county-district number — 043914.

Literature Review Committee (LRC)

The Literature Review Committee is the district body that reviews and approves supplemental literary texts for classroom use, under Board Policy EFA(LOCAL). The committee’s composition is fixed by the district’s LRC Guidelines.

Composition (per LRC Guidelines): Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum; Principal or Administrative Designee from each secondary campus; department chairs and team leaders from each secondary campus (1 per intermediate/junior high, 2 per high school); Wylie HS and Wylie East HS librarians; one junior high librarian; one intermediate librarian; ELAR Learning Specialists for grades 5–6, 7–8, and 9–12.

Decision standard: 75% quorum, 2/3 vote to approve. Procedurally, a teacher proposes via the Literature Request and Justification form; at least one LRC member reads the book and reports to the committee. The Board of Trustees retains ultimate authority over instructional materials.

Board meeting schedule

Cadence: Regular meetings are held on the third Monday of each month, beginning approximately 7:00 PM for regular sessions.

Next regular meeting: June 15, 2026 (per district calendar).

Location: Wylie ISD Education Service Center, 951 S. Ballard Avenue, Wylie, TX 75098. See the district’s posted agendas and notices at wylieisd.net.

Public Information Act / Open Records contact

Public Information Officer — Ian M. Halperin, Executive Director of Community Relations & Marketing.

Open Records inbox — openrecords@wylieisd.net.

Phone — 972-429-3019 (district main).

LION has filed four Public Information Act requests with Wylie ISD to date (WYLIEISD-PIA-001 through -004), all routed through this inbox.

Documents

The primary-source documents cited from the updates above — LION’s four Public Information Act request filings, the Wylie ISD productions in response (the Song of Solomon LRC Justification form, the LRC Guidelines, EFA(LEGAL) and EFA(LOCAL), the 2025–26 TEA Certification and signature page, the April 2026 LRC Update presentation, the Vernon AP Literature syllabus), and the full documented correspondence with the district (LION’s compliance letter and final formal request, plus the Spicer and Halperin replies) — are available in this folder.