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City View ISD parents seek accountability after sexual misconduct claims

 Samuel Pak, whose daughter used to attend City View High School in Wichita Falls, spoke about the arrests of several district administrators for failing to report child abuse at a City View school board meeting Feb. 13, 2023.
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Samuel Pak, whose daughter used to attend City View High School in Wichita Falls, spoke about the arrests of several district administrators for failing to report child abuse at a City View school board meeting Feb. 13, 2023.

City View ISD parents called for accountability Monday night 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 connected 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 were submitted to law enforcement by school administrators, according to the affidavits.

On Monday night, concerned members of the community said they were frustrated they hadn’t seen more action from the board.

One father, Samuel Pak, said his daughter used to attend City View High School, and her friends and classmates had been abused by Morris.

Pak asked the school board to explain how the district would regain the community's trust after these incidents.

"This is a systemic problem," Pak said. "It was not carried out by one lone wolf who did a bad thing. It was allowing years of trauma, coordinated by the top administration, to save face and to not comply to the duty of care it is sworn to do."

The Wichita Falls Police Department arrested City View ISD Superintendent Tony Bushong, Assistant Superintendent Carrie Allen, former Junior-Senior High School Principal Daryl Frazier and Athletic Director Rudy Hawkins 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 failure to report sexual misconduct.

Mike Parker also spoke at Monday's meeting, where at least two dozen members of the public attended. He called for termination of the arrested administrators immediately.

"So, I'm gonna put this on y'all," Parker said. "Do you really think that our superintendent, after these allegations — our coach, our counselor, all these people — are gonna be able to walk right back in here and pick up and carry on?"

The meeting was also attended by advocates for victims of sexual violence. Mackenzie Splawn — the outreach manager for First Step, a nonprofit that provides services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault — offered support to those affected by the incidents.

"We really just wanna be able to support you guys and support the school and help the people who are affected 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, board members went into a closed-door session to further discuss the issue. The board cited sensitive personnel information in its move to keep the session private.

In the wake of Morris’ death, students said they felt frustrated.

In an interview with KFDX-TV last week, two students spoke out about what happened. The station declined to name the students due to the nature of the allegations.

"It's just, I feel like he victimized us again, 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 out of it or any closure."

The student said she and a friend went to school administrators to complain about Morris, but there was no corrective action.

"The same people that were saying, 'oh, why didn't you go to the police? Why didn't you file a police report?' That's why," the other student said. "We went and this happened — the guilt tripping kind of started."

City View ISD's board of trustees 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 offenses that occurred at least five years ago."

"At this point in time, the District is not aware of any facts that would support the allegations against these individuals," the statement read.

Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on Twitter @tosibamowo.

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Toluwani Osibamowo
David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi