Ninnekah emergency suspension is reversed
Administrative judge: Bunch does not pose an imminent threat
An emergency suspension of the superintendent of Ninnekah Public Schools has been lifted.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted 4-0 on Friday to accept the recommendation of an administrative law judge to reverse the emergency suspension of Superintendent Todd Bunch’s teaching license.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education said it will proceed immediately toward a hearing to revoke Bunch’s certification.
He remains on administrative leave with pay from Ninnekah schools.
The board initially suspended Bunch on Sept. 30, the same day it placed Ninnekah schools on probation amid a sexual abuse scandal in the 500-student district south of Chickasha.
Bunch challenged his suspension in Oklahoma County District Court. On Oct. 6, he obtained a 10-day hold on the board’s decision to allow an administrative law judge to review the matter.
An administrative judge recommended Wednesday that Bunch’s emergency suspension be lifted because he poses no imminent threat that would warrant emergency action.
Bunch is one of five current and former district staff members who were accused in a federal lawsuit of failing to report and prevent alleged sexual abuse by Ninnekah girls’ basketball coach Ronald Gene Akins.
Akins, 54, has been charged in Grady County District Court with two counts of felony sexual battery and two counts of felony rape by instrumentation.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is continuing a probe into the allegations and the school district.
Twelve former girls’ basketball players filed a lawsuit in August against the Ninnekah district, multiple
school staff members, Grady County Sheriff Jim Weir, a sheriff ’s detective and Friend Public Schools, contending the defendants allowed Akins to continue to commit sexual abuse and harassment for years.
Three more women have since come forward with similar accusations ag ainst Akins.
State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said it was “plainly astonishing” that Ninnekah administrators failed to take action sooner against Akins. She said the district showed a “total breakdown” in Title IX protections of students.
Bunch’s attorney, Mark Hammons, said the superintendent was never told of concrete allegations and is confident he will be cleared of wrongdoing.
“Mr. Bunch, like everybody else I know, is not psychic,” Hammons said. “He doesn’t know things just because they happen. Somebody has to tell him. It’s really clear nobody communicated to him any information about the coach that would have warranted him taking action any sooner than he did.”