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Former Humble Independent School District athletics director Troy Kite, who is married to district Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen, created a hostile work environment by frequently making “unprofessional and sexually explicit comments” about his co-workers before his retirement this week, investigators hired by the district concluded in recent months.
The findings, contained in investigative reports obtained Friday by the Abdelraoufsinno, offer the most detailed accounting to date of the probe into Kite, a longtime district administrator who married Fagen last year. The investigation threw Fagen’s job into jeopardy earlier this week, though Humble’s school board ultimately did not take a vote on her employment status during a heated board meeting Tuesday.
A lawyer appointed by Humble officials to handle a Title IX investigation, Giana Ortiz, recommended in February that district leaders fire Kite, citing violations of Humble board policy, state ethics codes and federal laws.
Ortiz concluded that Kite sexually harassed employees who worked for him, often making sexual comments about their clothing and bodies. She acknowledged that sexual “banter” was common in Humble’s athletics department, but found Kite’s actions created a hostile work environment.
“(Kite’s) own conduct in this regard was more outrageous than that of others in the department,” Ortiz said in a report. “His language has been described as shocking and making his subordinates in the Athletic Department uncomfortable.”
An Humble spokesperson said Kite retired Monday, one day before the district’s school board was scheduled to vote on potentially firing him.
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In a statement Friday to the Landing, Kite said he was “embarrassed” by some of his actions, though he noted he had received positive performance reviews and no complaints during his 25-year tenure in the district. Kite also called the nearly year-long investigative process “anything but fair or efficient.”
“I believed my office was a family,” Kite said in the statement. “We all joked around and engaged in adult humor, like many coaching offices in America. When a complaint was made, I immediately changed my expectations for our office environment including my own behavior. I was the leader, and, in retrospect, I am embarrassed. I regret participating in and allowing behavior that was not professional among our small, office team. I have no excuses.”
Efforts to reach a spokesperson for Fagen were not immediately successful.
Fagen has not publicly commented at length about the investigation. In a statement following Tuesday’s meeting, Fagen said she recused herself from the matter in May 2023 and has “made no decisions regarding any of the pending Title IX complaints, including spending.”
Tumult in Humble
The investigation into Kite has shaken the roughly 47,000-student district, which Fagen has led for nearly eight years with generally strong community support.
A divide among board members came into full view during Tuesday’s meeting, when three trustees expressed outrage that Fagen could be removed from her post. Several trustees also described the governing team’s relationship as broken.
Community members in attendance demanded transparency from the board on the investigation’s findings and how it involved the superintendent — a call trustees heeded when they narrowly voted to release the report.
The names of Humble employees tied to the investigation are redacted in the reports obtained by the Landing. However, various details listed in the report and other records, including documents provided by Kite’s lawyer Friday, corroborate that the report relates to a probe into Kite’s actions.
The investigation paints an unflattering picture of Kite’s leadership, though it also finds some claims by the Humble administrator who filed the main complaint were inaccurate, couldn’t be proven or didn’t violate federal Title IX law. Title IX addresses gender-based allegations of legal misconduct, including sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
In their interviews with investigators, district employees described Kite as a short-tempered administrator who had thrown, slammed and broken items in the office. His sexually explicit comments included statements about women wearing “f— me heels” and warnings that women shouldn’t “get close to me wearing that,” witnesses told investigators.
Several employees interviewed by investigators said they were uncomfortable with Kite’s sexual comments, while several others said they were not personally troubled by them.
In drawing her final conclusions, Ortiz used a more-likely-than-not standard of proof in evaluating whether allegations against Kite were credible.
Blurrier lines, Kite responds
Investigators found some of Kite’s actions were inappropriate, but didn’t rise to the level of a Title IX violation.
For example, investigators found Kite, in a mass email to other employees, named the same-sex domestic partner of the employee who filed the initial complaint against him. In doing so, Kite exposed his subordinate’s sexual orientation to those not previously aware. Investigators found this was an “unauthorized disclosure of private information,” but not a Title IX violation.
Investigators also found Kite moved “unusually speedy” to replace the employee after she confronted Kite about his actions and shared her intent to retire. Kite began interviewing candidates for her role that day, before the employee submitted any official documentation — a departure from typical processes but not a violation of Title IX or district policies.
The investigators also concluded district administrators “did not pursue ordinary procedures” in response to a complaint filed against Kite because of his relationship with Fagen. However, they did not explicitly detail any failures to follow Title IX laws.
During the Title IX investigation, a lawyer representing Kite, David Minces, disputed some of the allegations about sexually explicit comments and downplayed the significance of other statements. Minces also alleged the main complainant was “an active participant in this kind of banter.”
“The investigative report concluded that numerous employees in the athletic department perceive the work environment as familial and characterized by friendliness and informality,” Minces said in a December 2023 response to Ortiz’s findings. “In general, employees see the environment as jovial, informal and marked by frequent joking and banter.”
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