Former Southside High School principal John Harris pled guilty yesterday to a charge of sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor, which he committed while employed by the Dallas County School system.

The guilty plea was part of an agreement with Harris and the Dallas County District Attorney’s office, which effectively bars Harris from working around children again.

“This agreement protects the children,” special prosecutor in the case J.L. Chestnut said.

Harris originally had three charges of sex abuse in the first degree pending against him.

The trial was originally slated to begin in June, but Harris filed a motion to continue the case at the last minute.

The agreement Harris signed states that the three sex abuse charges, felonies, will be withdrawn and filed, but not dismissed.

Instead, Harris was charged with a misdemeanor sexual misconduct charge, which he agreed to plead guilty.

Chestnut said the agreement was made to protect the city and county.

“This would have affected so many people,” he said. “We could have spent a week here, a very difficult week for this city and the people.”

Harris was sentenced to one year in county jail, which was suspended. Instead, he must participate in supervised probation for two years.

He also had to agree to resign immediately from the Dallas County School system, where he was still employed.

The board placed him on suspension without pay when he was indicted, pending the outcome of the criminal charges filed against him.

In the event Harris is discovered working with children in the future, he will immediately go to jail for the misdemeanor and the felony charges will be refiled, Chestnut said.

Harris was accused of sexually abusing young men at Southside, where he was principal.

While this case is resolved, Harris also faces a civil trial filed by some of the young men, two tenured teachers in the Dallas County School System and Barbara Barge.

Barge was fired on charges of immorality after attempting to shed light on Harris’ misconduct as principal. Barge recorded a conversation with one of Harris’ alleged victims and used graphic language with the student. She was later rehired after a lengthy trial.

Chestnut represents the plaintiffs in the civil case against Harris, which is just now in its discovery phase.

“The court had ruled we could not take John Harris’ deposition because he had a Fifth Amendment fight,” Chestnut said.

Essentially, Chestnut said the civil trial couldn’t continue until the criminal trial was completed, as deposition from the civil trial could be considered incriminating to Harris.

Chestnut said he expects this trial is the “tip of the iceberg” regarding abuse in the schools.

He cited three charges of sexual abuse pending against another Dallas County educator, Bruce Kynard. Kynard allegedly abused young girls while employed with the system.

Kynard was acquitted in June of another count of sex abuse. The jury came back hung on a second charge.

“I expect more cases to come out not merely out of the Dallas County School System but out of the city school system (as well),” he said. “We are not through here by a long shot anybody who thinks we are is barking up the wrong tree.”