Disturbing pattern in Bixby school actions

THOSE willing to abuse power and mistreat people in one situation will do the same in different settings. This is as true in government as in private life, and the Bixby school district may be the latest example.

Bixby is embroiled in controversy after a student said he was sexually assaulted with a pool cue at the home of former Superintendent Kyle Wood during a function for football players.

Several school officials are now being investigated to determine if they tried to thwart a police investigation by failing to report the assault as soon as they became aware of the allegations. Immediate reporting is required by law. (Wood has since been let go by the district — with a six-figure payout.)

In a recent affidavit, the district attorney’s office in Rogers County highlights several facts suggesting Bixby school officials aren’t being forthright and may be trying to hinder the investigation.

The assault is believed to have occurred Sept. 27, and school officials were reportedly informed Oct. 26. But they didn’t officially report the allegations to the Department of Human Services until Nov. 10.

The affidavit says some school officials met with a Bixby police officer on Oct. 31 and discussed the issue in a general fashion without filing an official report, and that “those present indicated superintendent Kyle Wood would not allow school officials to report the incident to the police until the morning of November 2, 2017.”

Furthermore, when investigators obtained a warrant for the electronic communications of four school officials for a period of 44 days, “a Bixby school IT employee told investigators he would produce the electronic communications in a searchable format.” Instead, the school gave law enforcement “tens of thousands of emails in an unindexed and minimally searchable format where each electronic communication was an unnamed file that had to be individually opened to be examined.”

Put simply, the affidavit paints a portrait of school officials behaving as if they are above the law. If so, it’s not the first time.

In 2010, the Bixby school board, with the backing of Wood, voted not to comply with the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for children with special needs. This created serious financial hardship for several families seeking to place children in schools better designed to serve their unique needs.

Then-state Superintendent Sandy Garrett, a Democrat, said school board members engaged in such intransigence were “in violation of their oaths of office” by refusing to obey the law. The attorney general’s office sent a letter to several such school boards, warning “no executive officer has the right to simply ignore the directives contained in such laws.”

In 2016, the state Supreme Court showed Bixby officials didn’t have a legal leg to stand on when it unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the scholarship program.

Not long ago, Bixby school officials were willing to flout the law to inconvenience the families of children with special needs. Given their current actions (and inactions), it’s reasonable to ask if district officials hold similar attitudes toward victims of sexual assault.