SAN ANTONIO – A monthslong KSAT Investigates probe reveals a Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD board member falsified at least half a dozen applications for teaching jobs — and continued to get hired at schools across the state.
KSAT Investigates requested dozens of records from Matthew Short’s decade-long teaching career, and found districts failed to catch falsehoods hiding in plain sight.
Short was elected to serve as a Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD trustee in November 2025, according to his district biography.
KSAT Investigates began digging into Short’s background after we first broke the story of his employment dispute with Judson ISD.
That employment dispute has led the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD board to publicly reprimand Short during several board meetings.
Earlier this year, the board voted to censure Short. The district previously said the move is a public reprimand.
The board also voted 6-1 to restrict Short from using district funds or facilities — with the exception of scheduled board meetings. Short was the lone elected trustee who voted against the decision. In July, Short filed a lawsuit against the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD to restore his access.
This week, a Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD meeting agenda shows the board will decide on Short’s future as a trustee.
The board is set to talk and possibly decide on whether to discipline Short, which could include initiating action to remove him from office, and the agenda shows the following item addresses “Matthew Short resignation.” KSAT Investigates emailed Short for comment on the board’s plans, but he has not responded as of Wednesday.
KSAT Investigates also asked Short and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD if Short submitted his resignation from the board.
“This is a pending Board matter and is currently subject to attorney-client privilege due to ongoing litigation,” wrote Deanna D. Jackson, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD’s executive director of communications and community engagement, in an email on Wednesday. “Therefore, the district is unable to comment or release related documents at this time.”
Short did not respond to our question.
A decade of red flags
KSAT Investigates filed more than a dozen public records requests with districts across the state and found a pattern spanning more than a decade.
Out of the eight districts Short worked for since 2015, records show he was placed on leave from six of them.
Short began working at Waco ISD in August 2015. Records show his tenure with the district ended in the spring of 2017 after he resigned from his teaching position. District records state Short was not eligible to be rehired after he was “reported and investigated for inappropriately grabbing a student under his supervision.”
Records show Waco ISD police opened an investigation into Short in April 2017 after a student accused Short of slapping him in the head and then dragging that student from one room to another.
According to a police report, the student reported that he had a cut on his hand and asked Short for a Band-Aid or to see the nurse. In an interview with police, records show Short denied hitting the student.
KSAT Investigates emailed Short on Wednesday for his response to the dragging allegation. Short has not responded.
Records show Waco ISD reported the incident to the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
In August 2017, records show Harmony Public Schools in Waco hired Short. In an email, the district told KSAT Investigates that “Short never reported to work with Harmony” after being hired on Aug. 7.
The district told KSAT it placed Short on unpaid administrative leave two weeks after his hire. Records show the district learned he was under investigation by the TEA for alleged educator misconduct. KSAT did not receive information relating to the findings or conclusions of the investigation, and we are unaware of the outcome.
In April 2018, the principal of Harmony Science Academy sent Short a letter saying the school would not renew his employment for the coming year.
“Once the investigation results are known and you are cleared of this alleged misconduct, you may reapply for employment with Harmony,” the letter stated.
Short was hired at Rapoport Academy Public School in Waco to teach during the 2018-2019 school year.
Records show Short sent the district an undated letter saying that “the decision to let me go from the district stung pretty bad.”
KSAT Investigates emailed the district to ask about Short’s letter. Superintendent Alexis Neumann explained the district is at-will and does not offer contracts like a traditional school, but has the ability to offer or not offer letters of intent.
“The campus administration determined that it would not be in the best interest of the team to offer (Short) a position for the next year,” Neumann said in an email. “There was no major investigation or single significant event that caused this decision. It was just not a good fit for our campus.”
The following school year, records show Short began working at Connally ISD.
In March 2021, records show Connally ISD placed Short on administrative leave with pay “as a result of the investigation involving (Short) accessing and monitoring other school employees’ email and student records accounts.” KSAT did not receive information relating to the findings or conclusions of the investigation, and we are unaware of the outcome.
Short submitted his resignation to the district the following month, records show.
“While working for Connally ISD, I have been subjected to numerous actions which can only be described as discriminatory and mentally abusive,” Short wrote in his resignation letter, but did not give specific examples. “While I have enjoyed working with this district’s students, the harassment, discrimination, and mental abuse have become unbearable.”
Months after ending his tenure at Connally ISD, records show he was hired at Hillsboro ISD, where he worked until June 2022.
The district told KSAT it did not have a resignation letter on file for Short.
Records show Short began teaching at Bosqueville ISD in the Waco area in August 2022.
In April 2023, school board meeting minutes show the Bosqueville ISD board voted to terminate Short’s probationary contract at the end of its term.
Records reviewed by KSAT Investigates show the district placed Short on paid administrative leave in early 2023 “as a result of poor job performance,” which included failure to follow his supervisor’s directives, dishonesty with his supervisor and colleagues, and failure to perform job responsibilities.
Short returned to the San Antonio area in August 2023. Records show he worked as a fourth grade teacher at Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD.
Records show the district placed him on administrative leave with pay in March 2025 after the district opened “an investigation concerning allegations of unprofessional communication, violations of issued directive, and violations of District policies and procedures.” KSAT did not receive information relating to the findings or conclusions of the investigation, and we are unaware of the outcome.
Short submitted his resignation from Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD the following month.
Short then began working at Judson ISD’s Salinas Elementary in August 2025. Months later, he resigned after the district’s board voted to propose his termination.
Records show Judson ISD placed Short on administrative leave in late 2025 after district police opened an investigation into his conduct for an incident that happened the same day he was sworn in as a board member.
Earlier this year, KSAT Investigates first reported that Judson ISD police began investigating allegations that Short abandoned several students outside of the campus after school on Nov. 17, according to a police report.
Months after the incident, records show Judson ISD Police Chief Teresa Ramon emailed Short in April saying the district had contacted the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office in December 2025 to pursue a possible charge of abandoning or endangering a child.
Ramon said the Judson ISD Police Department closed the case because it did not meet the requirements to file charges since staff members were still on campus, the children were left outside in the daytime and there was no bad weather.
“The (Bexar County Assistant District Attorney) stated the students were not placed under circumstances that exposed them to an unreasonable risk of harm,” Ramon wrote in the email.
While the incident did not lead to criminal charges, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show it’s part of what led the district to recommend terminating Short’s contract in the middle of the school year.
“This recommendation is being made based on material misrepresentations on your employment application, endangering your student and demonstrating a disregard for the welfare of your students when you abandoned them outside in front of the school without supervision on Monday, November 17, 2025, and insubordination and failure to comply with multiple directives and Board Policies,” wrote then-Judson ISD Superintendent Milton Fields in a Jan. 6 letter to Short.
A pattern hidden on paper
After reviewing his job applications from these districts, KSAT Investigates found Short repeatedly answered “no” when asked about being involuntarily terminated or resigning in lieu of termination from several districts.
KSAT Investigates asked the TEA if there was any system in place to track the number of times a teacher has been put on administrative leave and then resigned.
“Only if it’s been reported to us,” said Levi Fuller, the TEA’s inspector general for educator misconduct, in an interview with KSAT Investigates. “It really is incumbent on these districts to give good recommendations in regards to whatever caused the separation of this individual or an individual to go to the different district.”
In July 2026, records show the TEA issued a reprimand against Short’s teaching certificate.
KSAT Investigates asked the TEA what the reprimand was for, but the TEA did not directly answer our question.
“This reprimand will permanently appear on his certification for the duration of his career,” a spokesman said in an email on Wednesday.
The reprimand is the only professional discipline KSAT Investigates found for Short, who has also not been charged with any criminal misconduct in connection to any allegations.
KSAT Investigates emailed Short three times requesting an interview for this story. He has not responded.
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