The parents of City View ISD called for accountability on Monday evening after seven former and current administrators were arrested and charged with failing to report child abuse.
Former City View High School basketball coach Bobby Morris died by suicide in June after being accused on social media of sexual misconduct with students.
According to court documents first reported by KFDX-TV, the arrests are linked to four separate incidents between Morris and four female students over an eight-year period. No reports of sexual misconduct by City View ISD faculty have been filed with law enforcement by school administrators, according to affidavits.
On Monday evening, concerned community members said they were frustrated at not seeing more action from the council.
One father, Samuel Pak, said his daughter was attending City View High School and that her friends and classmates had been bullied by Morris.
Pak asked the school board to explain how the district would regain community trust after these incidents.
“This is a systemic problem,” Pak said. “It wasn’t executed by a lone wolf who did a bad thing. He allowed years of trauma, coordinated by top administration, to save face and disregard the duty of care he’s sworn to do.”
The Wichita Falls Police Department arrested City View ISD superintendent Tony Bushong, assistant superintendent Carrie Allen, former junior high school principal Daryl Frazier and athletic director Rudy Hawkins on Wednesday.
On Thursday, police arrested two more men in connection with these incidents, according to affidavits obtained by KFDX-TV: former City View ISD principal Raymond Weathersbee and former City View ISD superintendent Stephen Harris. They were also charged with failing to report sexual misconduct.
Mike Parker also spoke at Monday’s meeting, which was attended by at least two dozen audience members. He called for the immediate termination of the arrested administrators.
“So, I’ll put this in there,” Parker said. “Do you really think our superintendent, after these allegations — our coach, our counselor, all these people — will be able to come back in here and pick up and move forward?”
The meeting was also attended by the advocates of victims of sexual violence. Mackenzie Splawn — the outreach manager at First Step, a nonprofit that provides services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault — offered support to those affected by the incidents.
“We really just want to be able to support you guys and support the school and help people who are impacted by this situation,” Splawn said.
School board members did not publicly discuss the arrests at Monday’s meeting. After about seven minutes of public testimony, the board members entered a closed session to discuss the matter further. The council cited sensitive personal information in its move to keep the session private.
In the wake of Morris’ death, students said they were feeling frustrated.
In an interview with KFDX-TV last week, two students spoke about the incident. The station declined to name the students due to the nature of the allegations.
“It just feels like it’s re-victimizing us, making us feel bad,” she said. “But I mean, that’s all I can say. I was, I was shocked. Honestly, we don’t get any justice or closure out of it.”
The student said she and a friend went to school administrators to complain about Morris, but there was no corrective action.
“The same people who were like, ‘oh, why didn’t you go to the police? Why didn’t you press charges?’ That’s why,” said the other student. “We went and this happened: the guilt started.”
The City View ISD board released a statement Wednesday, saying it took the allegations and arrests seriously, but that the arrests of six school and district leaders were based on “alleged crimes that occurred at least five years ago.”
“At this time, the District is unaware of any facts that would support the allegations against these individuals,” the statement read.
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at [email protected]. You can follow Toluwani on Twitter @tosibamowo.
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