Ninnekah residents face harsh reality as settlement alternatives remain slim

NINNEKAH, Okla. (KFOR)— Some citizens and taxpayers in Ninnekah have formed a committee as they come to terms with what they'll be responsible for as part of a multi-million dollar settlement.

The $7.5 million settlement is tied to former Ninnekah girls basketball coach, Ronald Akins, who pled guilty in August last year to sexually abusing female students.

The district agreed to the settlement, with insurance and general funding expected to cover $1.5 million and the rest falling on property owners. District school board members have indicated over the past few months that they made the unanimous decision to avoid a jury trial; and that the financial burden would have likely been higher if that had been the case.

"I apologize for myself personally if we made a mistake," said board member Diane Carrol, although every board member in attendance at a Monday night board meeting said they stood by their decision.

"I'm upset about all this, I really am," said board member Brock Perryman. "I came in with good intentions."

Monday's meeting was the second community discussion led by a consultant the district hired last month, at a rate of $300 an hour to gauge community feedback and sentiment. Consultant Kathleen Kennedy provided a summary handout and follow up questions to residents in attendance at the meeting. She also brought along Jordan Smith, a bond attorney whose firm helped the district with a voter approved bond in 2023.

During an October meeting, residents raised concerns about being taxed for the bond project on top of the $6 million coming from the settlement as well. Smith clarified that the settlement changes to their property taxes will not likely start until January 2026.

Smith also addressed questions from residents on whether the bond project money could be used to help with the settlement or cancelled outright.

"The bond money can never be spent to satisfy any kind of judgement," said Smith.

Smith said there were ongoing confidential talks about potentially delaying the project the bond is tied to, mostly a new gymnasium for the district, or stopping it altogether until the settlement amount is paid off. He emphasized though that delaying the project could see significant construction cost increases upwards of $2-3 million due to inflation.

"I think it should have went to court," said resident Ricky Austin when asked how he would have handled the situation in the board's shoes. "I think everybody has their day of judgement; and I think they should have. They should have took it to court and let the judge decide what the penalty should have been."

Austin says he plans on running for a seat on the board, with the filling period opening up next month. He believes board members should have gotten a second opinion before taking the settlement offer. He also said he believes the apologies offered Monday by the board members were just words to absolve themselves of their actions.

"I believe it was trying to appease the community a little bit," said Austin. "I think there's still a lot of upset people that don't understand."

News 4 employees also spoke with Ninnekah resident Jimmy Crews who says he's leading a committee for change in the aftermath of the settlement.

"We can't just put a Band-Aid over an infection," said Crews. "We have to get rid of the infection."

Crews says he believes a majority of the community, although frustrated with the settlement, have come to terms with it eventually being their new realities. He does however believe a committee will serve as a meaningful addition to ensure nothing like what happened to cause the settlement in the first place will happen in Ninnekah again.

"We call it the Owls Overlook Committee so that we can start to look over and then call and see what we can do," said Crews. "Until this school, until this whole school system starts dealing with the teachers and dealing with the administration, we're going to have the same problems again; in another 10 years or something."

Crews believes the focus for the committee will be on cleaning house and finding solutions that ensure future generations have a platform so that they don't go through situations like this. He said he's hopeful the school board will be cooperative with that process. The committee plans to meet once every 3-4 weeks.

You can read a break down of summary items, answers and follow up questions below: