Rogers Co. DA Responds To Bixby School Board Complaints

The Bixby school board is calling on the state legislature to clarify the child abuse reporting law.

The board says it does not believe former Superintendent Kyle Wood broke the law.

The Board is doing its own internal investigation and believes there are factual errors in the affidavit regarding the timeline in which administrators reported this case to police.

“We are committed to making sure that every student feels safe and respected," said Bixby Board of Education President Dr. Ron Schnare.

Bixby Board of Education members say they question the timeline in the affidavit of when this case was reported.

They also say they've received conflicting instructions from the Department of Human Services and Bixby police regarding the reporting process.

Related Story: Rogers County DA Responds To Criticism Of Bixby Sexual Assault Investigation

“The board or its attorney will be contacting the Director of the Department of Human Services to address the inconsistencies," said Dr. Schnare.

Oklahoma State law states "Every person having reason to believe that a child under the age of 18 years is a victim of abuse or neglect shall report the matter promptly to the Department of Human Services." 

The original affidavit says Athletic Director Jay Bittle found out about the incident on October 27th then told other school administrators but didn't notify police notified until November 2nd.

However, the issue could boil down to the use of the word promptly in the law, because it does not specifically say how soon abuse must be reported.

“We believe the initial search warrant affidavit which has been the basis of numerous disparaging media stories contains multiple false and untrue assertations," said Dr. Schnare.

The Board called on the Rogers County DA to fix any incorrect information in the affidavit.

DA Matt Ballard responded to their claims, saying it's been "frustratingly difficult" to get information from the Bixby School district.

He goes on to say, "As soon as the Attorney General assigned my office to pursue the case, I released a public statement urging anyone with relevant information to reach out to investigators. That obviously included members of the Bixby School Board, and I will welcome their call."

Nobody has been charged with a crime in this case.