(Editor’s note: The following article details allegations of sexual assault.)
Leaders at Kingston Public Schools knew about but were “deliberately indifferent” to stopping “traditional freshman hazing initiation” that subjected female basketball players to sexual assault, two parents in Marshall County are alleging.
Filed Jan. 7, their lawsuit alleges that students were “subjected to topless lap dances” and “other sexually charged acts” of hazing during overnight stays for a June 17, 2024, basketball camp at Vinita High School, more than 200 miles from Kingston. The team spent three nights in Vinita classrooms, according to the petition filed by Brandon and Crystal Beller on behalf of their minor child.
“As the team returned from dinner, [she] and the other freshman players were told that the freshman initiation would be that night,” the petition states. “Shortly thereafter [she] and the other freshman girls were put in one classroom with assistant basketball coach Mindy Weeks and the rest of the team was (sic) in an adjacent classroom. (…) Weeks was fully aware that the freshman hazing initiation was about to take place and she participated in the initiation.”
The Bellers allege that “someone in Mindy Weeks’s room covered the girls’ heads with blankets,” took them one at a time into the adjacent room and sat them in front of the older players. According to the petition, an older player approached a freshman topless, straddled her and performed a lap dance.
“The player then got up off of [the victim] and turned around with her back to [the victim] and started twerking her rear end into [the victim’s] face, lap and crotch,” the petition alleges. “The other players around her chair suddenly chanted ‘tit slap’ and the player turned around and straddled [the victim] again and attempted to slap [the victim’s] face with her breasts. [The victim] responded by holding up her hands to stop the sexual assault, but they held her hands down and continued.”
In a statement issued through their attorney, Tod Mercer, the Bellers said they were “shocked and appalled” by what their daughter told them.
“We did our best to protect our daughter from harm. Never in a million years would we expect that harm to come from playing girls’ basketball at Kingston High School,” the Bellers said. “So, when we discovered that our daughter and the other freshman players were subjected to topless lap dances, and other sexually charged acts, as part of the freshman hazing initiation to the team, we were shocked and appalled.”
The Bellers’ petition alleges that Weeks and head coach Chad Rumer “had actual knowledge that the girls’ basketball team had a history and tradition of hazing females freshman basketball players, but they failed to take any action to stop the hazing.”
In their statement, the Bellers said the district fell short of its obligation to protect their child.
“To discover that this hazing initiation was a well-known tradition at Kingston High School was simply unexplainable,” the Bellers said. “The adults in the room knew about the hazing tradition. They knew when it was going to happen, and yet they did nothing to stop it and even participated in the incident. Protecting our daughter is our number one priority. Evidently, the school does not hold the same priorities toward their students.”
A statement provided by Kingston Superintendent Brian Brister acknowledged the lawsuit and denied the claims.
“The school district strongly condemns hazing in all its forms and denies the allegations that it knew about and permitted such activities,” Brister said. “The safety and wellbeing of its students is the school district’s top priority and any accusations that it knowingly permitted a student to be subjected to ritualistic hazing are false. As the litigation is ongoing, the school district is unable to comment further.”
On Feb. 4, Kingston Public Schools’ attorney — John Priddy of Rosenstein Fist & Ringold — filed the district’s response to the lawsuit, which denies some claims, says the district “is without sufficient knowledge to either admit or deny” others, and raises more than a dozen affirmative defenses.
Among those defenses is a suggestion that the Bellers may have been “contributorily negligent” concerning the overnight basketball team trip.
“Plaintiffs’ damagers are limited or otherwise barred to the extent plaintiffs knew of, understood and appreciated the risks and dangers inherent in the activity alleged in the petition,” the school district’s response states.
Along with lap dances, the Bellers’ petition alleges the hazing rituals involved foods and body parts, such as forcing freshman students to eat “Cheez It crackers from another girl’s belly button, eat cookies from between another girl’s toes, and eat grapes that they had placed between an upper-class girl’s breasts by using only their mouth.”
Freshman players also had “cookies placed between their butt cheeks and (were) told to crush them,” the petition alleges.
Although they are accused of negligence in the petition, neither Rumer nor Weeks is named as a defendant.
Neither Weeks nor Rumer, who is in his 29th season of coaching, responded to phone calls made to numbers listed as being associated with them.
The June 2024 incident was also reported to the Vinita Public Schools Campus Police Department, which asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate, according to OSBI spokesperson Hunter McKee. A complaint was also filed with the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
“At the direction and recommendation of OSDE investigative personnel, the OSBI was contacted by the local school district’s law enforcement agency for further investigation,” OSDE spokesperson Tara Thompson said.
McKee said OSBI’s investigation “has been provided” to Craig County District Attorney Matt Ballard for review. A spokesperson for Ballard confirmed receipt of OSBI’s report but said no public records are available about the matter and that criminal charges have not been filed.
At the Kingston Public Schools Board of Education meeting Jan. 13, the members unanimously approved the renewal of Brister’s contract as superintendent for three years, with a $6,000 raise effective July 1 and a $7,500 bonus to be paid this fiscal year.
Vinita Public Schools Superintendent Gabe Schmidt said the incident took place before his time and directed questions to Kingston.
