As RedState reported on Saturday, a female high school student in Katy, Texas, was punched and then beaten by a male football player, and the video of the altercation went viral. Taylor High School, where both students attend, and the Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) dismissed the video evidence because they claimed it lacked "full context," even though the video showed that the football player initiated the attack and continued to pursue the victim to beat her down. 

The school and the district deemed it a "mutual confrontation" and suspended both students. Katy ISD also requested that parents and the community "delete" any instances of the video from social media.

WARNING: Disturbing images and strong language.

VIDEO: Katy ISD asked parents to delete any evidence of the fight that took place involving a male alleged football player beating a female student. pic.twitter.com/XYLgTGh1aP

— Tony Ortiz (Current Revolt) (@CurrentRevolt) April 4, 2025

Brooklynn Gianfrancesco, the 15-year-old victim of the attack, and her father, Danny Gianfrancesco, have been demanding to be heard and that Brooklynn get justice for the attack. According to a spokesperson for the Gianfrancescos, both father and daughter are being subjected to a stonewall and a retaliation campaign, and the evidentiary and investigative materials Danny Gianfrancesco needs in order to be able to file charges to gain that justice for his daughter are deliberately being withheld.

Both Brooklynn and Mr. Gianfrancesco spoke out on April 22 at the Katy ISD Board of Trustees Meeting, which was supposed to be a community discussion about modifying Katy ISD's self-defense policy. Despite a trustee's attempt to steer him away from discussion of the assault, Danny Gianfrancesco spoke for three minutes and aired his frustrations.

When Mr. Gianfrancesco first started to speak about the violent assault, he was interrupted by a trustee and asked to restrict his comments.

TRUSTEE: Okay, sir, sir, I, I, I wanna make sure that you stick to talking about policy, not about the specific incident or particular or particular people.

GIANFRANSCESCO: Okay, let's talk about, umm, how you handled this "mutual confrontation." I was told that this incident was a mutual confrontation, but one student never hit the other. There's a video out there that shows proof that this one student was assaulted, physically assaulted, and who I talked to did not accept the video assistant principals, cops. I've been everywhere... to talking—

The trustee again interrupted Mr. Gianfrancesco. It seems they were intent on pretending that the assault in question was not the reason behind the meeting of the Board to address changing their self-defense policy. Kind of obtuse on their part.

TRUSTEE: Again, I just wanna, I just wanna caution you, we're not, we're not, we're not evaluating that specific instance here.

GIANFRANCESCO: This needs to be heard—

TRUSTEE: We're not addressing a specific—

At this point, Mr. Gianfrancesco had had enough.

GIANFRANCESCO: Okay, how about this? I filed public information request the day after it happened. Three weeks later, instead of transparency, I received two documents: a useless, heavily redacted report of which I've given you all a copy. And it claims to be the offense report, but the only thing reported on these six pages is my name and address. Everything else is redacted.

As the Katy ISD and the Board of Trustees no doubt know, if there is no documented harm, including the video, it is difficult to compile a case of assault. Mr. Gianfrancesco continued to talk about the ways he was being stonewalled, including the Katy ISD attorney's letter to the attorney general seeking permission to deny Mr. Gianfrancesco access to the other evidence and materials compiled.

Is an attorney required to do this when it is a "mutual confrontation?" Inquiring minds want to know.

GIANFRANCESCO: The other document, a letter written by the attorney, written to the attorney general from the, KISD attorney, I'm sorry, Gretchen McCord, in which she seeks permission to deny me access to all other evidence and material related. To my request such as body cam footage, statements from witnesses, the video from the hallway.

I've been to Harris County Sheriff's Office, district attorney, constables, everybody refers me back to KISD police who have the jurisdiction and refused to allow me to press charges. Do you know what it feels like when people ask me why haven't I pressed charges against the student who assaulted my daughter?

How can I, when the very system that should support me is actively working against me? I've tried everything.

Mr. Gianfrancesco called the Board of Trustees to the carpet for the policies of the Katy ISD, which seem to be crafted not for the protection of the parents or the students, but of the district. 

The staff at these schools make decisions under the blanket of confidentiality, and parents have no recourse, he said.

Mr. Gianfrancesco then demanded that the investigation be reopened, the video evidence be put into consideration, and that the self-defense policy be changed to state that physical contact only becomes mutual if the person who is assaulted actually retaliates. He then alerted the Board of Trustees that he would not allow this to be swept under the rug.

GIANFRANCESCO: I'm not going away. I will not be bullied by KISD to be silent. [...] This isn't just about my daughter, it's about every parent who trusts schools to protect their children. The more you fight us, the bigger [unintelligible].

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The Trustees cut him off with a "Thank you," and Mr. Gianfrancesco received a round of applause from the audience.

But that next day, on Wednesday, Mr. Gianfrancesco appeared on KTRH AM 740 Houston's "Morning News with Shara & Jim," and reiterated to the host that, "They are making it impossible for me to file charges and do what is right by my daughter."

Mr. Gianfrancesco also disputed accounts that his daughter also went after the football player once the initial punch by him was thrown. "There wasn't wrestling on the ground, Gianfrancesco said. 

He was pummeling her [...] and saying some really bad stuff to her while he's on top of her on the ground. So, this wasn't just like a slap, or stop talking to me. This guy was out for blood. He was going after her like she killed his puppy.

From Mr. Gianfrancesco's telling, the investigation was handled poorly and there was a rush to put the whole thing to bed. Mr. Gianfrancesco said that beyond the three-day suspension both students received, the football player "didn't skip a beat."

On the other hand, Brooklynn Gianfrancesco appears to be receiving unequal treatment. Mr. Gianfrancesco said they tried to kick his daughter off the volleyball team, and now they are requiring her to run after school for 10 days as punishment. 

I'm having a problem with that right now. Because why... anybody that sees this video--common sense, I mean it's blatant: it's an assault, she didn't even have time to fight back. She was being pummeled.

The host asked Mr. Gianfrancesco if he was going to find a way to ultimately press charges. Gianfrancesco answered,

They're [Katy ISD] gonna play games for a long time. But we're gonna get all our ducks in a row and I'm coming after everybody. This could have been easy if they had just done the right thing from the beginning, but now it's my personal mission to get justice for my daughter. 

Danny Gianfresco is a single dad to Brooklynn, and according to his spokesperson, has limited resources with which to battle a school district. As a press release from his spokesperson detailing their battle stated:

Because she and her father, Danny Gianfrancesco, are actively seeking answers and justice, Brooklyn has been subjected to harmful behavior from staff and students, and no longer feels safe to attend her high school in Katy ISD.

In Brooklynn Gianfrancesco's shorter speech before the board, she stated that she no longer felt safe in her school or in her town.

Violence should not be labeled as mutual when a male student slaps a female student, Brooklynn began. 

When the female student seeks for help from the teacher and is ignored and becoming uncomfortable to go to school because.. because I have, um, I feel uncomfortable, as if I have a target on my back due to my dad and I trying to get justice for what's clearly an assault. I'm receiving dirty looks from staff and students and I don't feel as if this is a safe environment for me any more. 

What message are we sending everybody following this topic? Are we saying that it's okay for a male athlete or any male to assault a female student and that the school punishes both parties equally? What happened to me on March 25th was clearly an assault anywhere else except my school[...]

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Also referenced in the press release and even more stunning: The Katy ISD is attempting to blunt the free speech rights not only of the Gianfrancescos, but of others who stand in support of their battle. Along with the Katy ISD post requesting parents and the community to delete any instances of the video altercation, the spokesperson alleges that Katy ISD is suppressing a petition that is circulating around town. The Change.org online petition demands that Katy ISD take action to not only modify their self-defense policy, but to fully investigate this altercation and to bring charges against Brooklynn Gianfrancesco's assailant.

Since family and supporters started this campaign to stop this violence and get justice for Brooklyn, Katy ISD has aggressively enacted a campaign to silence us online and in the media, and are actively trying to hide our petition.  While thousands continue to sign our petition, we might have close to 100,000 signatures by now if Katy ISD was not using their billion-dollar budget and resources to overpower us and intimidate us.  Anyone who wants to sign it or help us spread the word may do so.  We need all of the help we can get.

The spokesperson shined the spotlight on the history of Katy ISD and its policies being detrimental to students and parents.

If you look at the comments on the petition you will see Danny’s family is just one of probably hundreds of families who have been harmed by Katy ISD and their policies.  You don’t just have to look at the petition to see the feedback—people all over the country are posting their Katy ISD stories. And when they post their stories, Katy ISD is quickly having every one of them removed—all over the internet and all over social media.

In 2024, Katy ISD experienced a major controversy when one of its teachers at another high school was arrested and charged with possession of child porn. This teacher happened to be married to the principal of Taylor High School: the same school Brooklynn Gianfrancesco attends, and where she was attacked.

A Texas school principal's husband has been accused of producing child abuse materials on school grounds and distributing it on the dark web.

James Stone, who teaches at Tompkins High School in Katy, was taken into custody on Monday on 10 counts of possessing and producing what police say are thousands of images involving minors. 

Police say the 53-year-old admitted to producing the images, some of which were taken on school grounds.

He is also well of taking images at various local swimming pools and other places in Katy. 

Police claimed that the images were distributed on 'the dark web.'

His wife Melinda Stone, the principal of Taylor High School, wrote two emails to the school community following his arrest and said she was cutting ties with her husband.

According to reports, the investigation of this crime is still ongoing. So, it is possible that Katy ISD would rather not see another instance of its failure to protect its students making international headlines.

That ship may have sailed. If Danny Gianfrancesco has anything to do with it, his petition for justice for his daughter Brooklynn will remain at the forefront, locally and break through nationally, until he and his family receive the redress they deserve.