Two OSSM teachers allowed to retire
Probe looked into inappropriate behavior
Two teachers under investigation for inappropriate behavior with students will retire from the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, a statefunded high school for academically advanced juniors and seniors.
Mark Li and Kurt Bachmann have been on administrative leave since September, following an Oklahoma Watch investigation into more than a decade of sexual harassment complaints at the school. Both have denied wrongdoing.
Staff, students and teachers attending a summer training at the campus reported Li for making inappropriate sexual comments. Bachmann, too, made sexual comments and innuendos, records and interviews revealed, and one student said the teacher humiliated and harassed her over her appearance.
The school’s board of trustees briefly discussed Li and Bachmann in a closed session Tuesday. Director of Public Information Linda Waters confirmed they plan to retire and said there’s no time frame for when it will occur. Bachmann taught physics, and Li taught anatomy.
OSSM, a boarding school located in Oklahoma City, is facing scrutiny for its handling of sexual harassment complaints. Former employee Keli Pueblo sued the school, alleging gender discrimination and a hostile work environment. She said OSSM administrators have for years allowed male employees accused of impropriety to leave on their own terms, and Li and Bachmann’s retirement fits that mold.
“They’re going away with celebration, just like Lynn Morgan did,” Pueblo said Tuesday.
Morgan, a former administrator, retired in 2019. Female staff had reported that he had sex with women in his office and gave favorable treatment to women he found attractive.
Title IX regulations, which protect and support victims of sexual harassment, don’t apply to the school because it doesn’t receive federal funds, according to the Oklahoma attorney general’s office. It’s state-funded and received more than $6 million last year.
The school has operated for three decades without an employee handbook or agency rules prohibiting sexual harassment or abuse.
Following Pueblo’s lawsuit and Oklahoma Watch’s investigation, the board hired a law firm to write an employee handbook.
The board’s personnel subcommittee is reviewing a draft of the handbook and plans to implement it early next year were discussed during the meeting.
Former student Dene Betz said school leaders haven’t done enough to reckon with the past.
As a student, Betz in 2013 reported Li for inappropriate behavior, and she was the one kicked off campus.
“I’m super happy they (Bachmann and Li) are off campus …,” Betz said. “I feel like the students are much safer.”
But she said the school should at least release a statement acknowledging the harm done.
Tony Cornforth, named the school’s president this year, did not address Li and Bachmann’s retirement at Tuesday’s meeting.
Jennifer Palmer has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2016 and covers education. Contact her at (405) 761-0093 or jpalmer@oklahomawatch.org. Follow her on Twitter @jpalmerOKC.
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers publicpolicy issues facing the state.