A disbarred attorney turned social media provocateur has thrust Coweta Public Schools into the national spotlight over sexual assault allegations, transforming a local crisis into a broader confrontation about public education.
Ronald Durbin, whose law license was revoked last month, arrived at Sloat Middle School in late October with his camera rolling. His aggressive questioning caused Principal Dave Wineinger to collapse. “Are you drunk?” Durbin demanded. “How many boys did you let get sexually molested?”
The district confirmed it reported incidents to police on Sept. 22. One mother said her son was repeatedly assaulted by a peer starting Aug. 19 during PE class. While she praised the school generally, she said it failed to prevent repeated assaults. She contacted Durbin as a last resort but now calls him “an immature bully.”
Durbin, with 94,000 YouTube subscribers, makes no apologies. “If you work for public tax dollars, you work for the public,” he said. His livestreams went viral after Libs of TikTok amplified the story to 4.5 million followers.
At a Nov. 10 school board meeting, parents pushed back. “Why are we allowing YouTube personalities and online bullying to prevail?” asked mother Sandee Crook.
Durbin says his mission is to destroy public education to fix it: “Sometimes you have to blow stuff up to improve it.”
Read Elizabeth Caldwell’s story, with photos by Rip Stell.
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▲=Possible paywall
Happy 66th birthday to Oklahoma City native Clay Bennett.
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
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