Oklahoma district will pay $5 million to settle lawsuit alleging abuse by coaches
The Kingfisher (Oklahoma) school district has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit accusing coaches of abusive behavior and the district of covering up the behavior.
The Kingfisher Times & Free Press reports that School Superintendent David Glover disclosed the settlement, which resolves the lawsuit brought by Mason Mecklenburg.
"The decision was reached to settle was from the advice of our counsel," Glover said "There were a number of factors that went into the decision by our board, but it was decided that the risk to our school system and to our patrons was too great to gamble on a jury trial that our attorneys just did not think we could win."
Head football coach Jeff Myers is on administrative leave pending the outcome of a felony charge of child neglect that was filed last month.
Mecklenburg’s attorney, Nathan Hall, said the abuse and coverups have been going on for almost two decades at the hands of Myers. He alleged that other coaches and administrators in the district knew about many of the instances and did nothing about them.
“We have a well-documented record that multiple students have been subjected to bullying, hazing, abuse, and sexual assault...yet Kingfisher refuses to do anything about it,” said Hall.
