Board suspends Ninnekah schools admins’ certificates
The Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday placed Ninnekah Public Schools on probation and suspended the teaching certificates of its superintendent and high school principal in the wake of a federal lawsuit accusing the administrators of ignoring sexual misconduct allegations made against a girls basketball coach.
The board’s unanimous vote means the district must continue to take corrective actions to ensure the safety of students or face further sanctions.
Twelve young women in August filed a federal lawsuit that accused former basketball coach Ronald Gene Akins of grooming them for sexual pleasure as
administrators and staff ignored warning signs.
Three more came forward later with similar accusations.
Some claim the grooming started when they were as young as 13.
Authorities arrested Akins in June. The 54-year-old former coach has been charged in Grady County District Court with two counts of felony sexual battery and two counts of felony rape by instrumentation.
Akins resigned, and the state Board of Education suspended his teaching certificate.
State superintendent says district leaders had ‘total breakdown’
State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister warned Ninnekah in a Sept. 15 letter that it faced probation. The letter followed meetings between a state Department of Education team and district administrators to discuss Title IX procedures and policies.
Hofmeister admonished district leaders for a “total breakdown” of Title IX protections for students and said it was “plainly astonishing that a certified public school administrator failed to respond to such concerns in any appropriate manner.”
She said Ninnekah High School Principal David Pitts and district Superintendent Todd Bunch failed to investigate Akins after a Grady County detective notified them in 2015 of an allegation of sexual misconduct from the coach’s previous school.
“Had Ninnekah administrators responded appropriately to the allegations that local law enforcement alerted them to in 2015, regarding Ronald Akins and possible misconduct involving a student at another district, any incidents of harassment and assault that Akins subjected Ninnekah students to after that time could potentially have been prevented,” Hofmeister said.
She said Pitts didn’t make any notes in Akins’ personnel file about the sexual misconduct allegations and Bunch stated the district didn’t look into the matter.
Hofmeister wrote that Pitts “according to documented sources, had knowledge of allegations and concerns about Akins’ conduct toward young women he coached or taught.”
In August, the Ninnekah Board of Education voted to suspend Bunch and Pitts.
Bunch and Pitts are also named in the federal lawsuit. Bunch attended Thursday’s board meeting. He declined to comment to The Oklahoman.
Along with Bunch and Pitts, the board suspended the teaching certification of former assistant girls basketball coach Charles Yackeyonny.
Yackeyonny resigned July 15 along with Akins. Yackeyonny was the Title IX coordinator for the Ninnekah school district during much of the period of the alleged sexual misconduct.
Yackeyonny was then listed as an employee of Eisenhower High School in Lawton Public Schools. Officials there confirmed that Yackeyonny was suspended in light of being named in the federal lawsuit. He has not been charged with a crime related to the scandal.
“Horrible situation,” Brian Bobek, a member of the state Board of Education, told The Oklahoman. “I’m just speaking for myself personally. I feel like we had the opportunity to hear the cries of the community. If what we’ve been told and what’s coming out in these investigations is in fact true, as a parent I can’t even imagine and have tremendous compassion for them. So, I personally want — I believe I speak for my board colleagues — want to do everything we can to get all the bad players out and help them to renew, restart and let the healing process begin.”
Ninnekah Schools establishes new procedures
The school board in Ninnekah has approved new procedures for processing complaints, hearings and discipline regarding sexual harassment of students. It also established a three-person Title IX team that will investigate discrimination complaints.
Ninnekah Elementary Principal Regina Jones is serving as the district’s Title IX coordinator. She said the district’s website has Title IX information available for students and teachers, including reporting forms and appropriate contact information.
“There is more training scheduled,” Jones said.
Grady County Sheriff Jim Weir and former detective Phillip Blevins are also named as defendants in the federal lawsuit.
A plaintiff alleged she reported her abuse in 2015 but the sheriff’s office, with Blevins leading the case, failed to complete the investigation. A Grady County deputy reported the case files from Blevins’ investigation are now missing, according to sheriff’s office records.
Blevins resigned after two more women came forward in June to report Akins had kissed, groped and touched them inappropriately — alleged behavior that was similar to the 2015 report from Jane Doe No. 1.
Blevins is now the commander of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office investigations division.
The Ninnekah school board accepted resignations from board President Rusty Garrett and clerk Scott Miller in August.
Miller, the chief of the Ninnekah Police Department, agreed to step down from the board after 14 years in office.
Garrett served on the five-member board for 19 years.
Garrett’s wife, Tammara Garrett, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Tammara Garrett told Grady County investigators she had heard rumors of Akins’ alleged sexual impropriety with students while she was a school employee but didn’t believe it because she was a friend of the coach, according to sheriff’s office records.
Under state law, all school employees are considered mandatory reporters and must notify the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and local law enforcement if they have reason to believe a student under 18 is a victim of abuse or neglect.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is also investigating Ninnekah Public Schools. About 530 students attend the school south of Chickasha.