Parent questions safety at PC West
WARR ACRES — Edwina Floyd wasn’t planning to attend Monday night’s Putnam City Schools board meeting.
But her 17-year-old daughter begged her to go.
Floyd, it turned out, was the only parent to address the board about a sexual assault that occurred at Putnam City West High School on Sept. 28.
“My heart goes out to the parents of that student,” Floyd told the panel. “They have a very long, dark road ahead of them.”
Floyd, a 1974 graduate of Putnam City West, knows from experience. She told the panel her daughter, a student at the school, was sexually assaulted three years ago over summer break.
“I come to you today because of a concern for safety in the school as a result of the incident which recently occurred, which, let’s be frank, was an aggravated sexual assault,” she said.
“My daughter came to me this afternoon and said ‘mother, please, please go to the meeting tonight and tell them ... we have to be safe in school.’”
Four Putnam City West High School football players are accused of participating in a hazing ritual known as “brooming.”
One of those players, Dawson Michael McLain, 19, of Bethany, was charged Friday with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a felony.
Oklahoma County prosecutors allege McLain and three juvenile players restrained a 14-year-old player and penetrated the victim with a broomstick.
The assault occurred inside the school’s varsity football locker room, police reported. McLain was 18 at the time. The younger students will be prosecuted in juvenile court, where records are not public.
The four players told police the “brooming” incident was a tradition passed down from class to class. The victim was clothed during the assault, Putnam City Campus Police reported.
Football coach Corey Russell was placed on paid administrative leave after the assault. The coach has denied knowing about the “brooming” tradition or any type of hazing.
On Monday night, Putnam City Schools spokesman Steve Lindley said the football coach was still on leave.
Lindley added that the district is in the process of establishing a task force in response to the recent sexual assault.
“The point is to look at the culture of the school and how that can be changed and what else we can do to keep students safe,” he said. “It’s looking at a culture that would allow something like this to happen. It’s something that we want to do what we can to put a stop to.”