A teacher's sexual misconduct in a small Oklahoma town results in $2.6M lawsuit settlement

Complaints about math teacher John Q. Horner III had been around for a long time before a police investigation in 2019 led to a lewd molestation conviction.

He had become known at the middle school in the small town of Salina, Oklahoma, as being way too friendly with girls in his eighth-grade class.

"Ever since I was .. in sixth grade, all of us had been warned and told that he would touch us and stuff," one of his victims testified at a preliminary hearing.

"It was an everyday thing," she said.

Salina Public Schools was sued over his sexual misconduct years ago and is now settling rather than go to trial.

In the lawsuit, 15 former students alleged the school district continued to allow Horner access to children for years after learning he was abusing them. Students even had a nickname for him, "Mr. Horny," according to the lawsuit and police reports.

"The School District silenced anyone who spoke out against Horner," their federal lawsuit alleged. "The School District specifically told students not to discuss the issue with their parents."

Their lead attorney, Cameron Spradling, notified the court Thursday of the settlement. He told a judge the school district has agreed to pay $2,625,000.

It is the second known major settlement of a civil case against an Oklahoma school district in the last six months. A federal lawsuit over hazing and bullying inside the Kingfisher High School football program was settled in November for $5 million.

The agreement in the Salina Public Schools lawsuit was reached after Horner was placed on probation.

His punishment was the result of a plea deal in Mayes County District Court.

What happened in former Salina teacher John Horner's court case?

Horner, now 60, pleaded no contest in August to nine felony counts of lewd molestation. Associate District Judge Rebecca Gore then found him guilty of the offenses.

Under the plea agreement, he was put on probation for almost seven years. He also was ordered to spend 14 days in jail and pay $6,391 in fines and other costs.

He is registered as a sex offender at an address in Tahlequah.

His criminal conviction involved nine former female students. All reported he touched them inappropriately during the 2018-2019 school year. Many said he put his hands on their thighs. Some said he also made inappropriate comments.

One victim told police she did not come forward at first because she knew of girls who went to the principal "and it seemed ... like nothing was done," according to police reports.

At the preliminary hearing in 2021, Horner's defense attorney sought a dismissal of the case. "There is simply no evidence here of lewd or lascivious actions," the attorney said.

Special Judge Jacqueline Stout disagreed, pointing to the repetitiveness of the touching, that it happened to multiple girls and that "he was rubbing against the body parts."

The judge said it was clear Horner had a pattern and took advantage of his role as a teacher.

The lawsuit involved the nine former students from the criminal case and six others who alleged Horner inappropriately touched them.

"On behalf of these young women, we're pleased to have both the criminal matter and this civil matter, as to the school district, resolved," said Spradling, an Oklahoma City attorney.

Former students will proceed with civil case against Horner

The notice to the court revealed Horner remains a defendant in the civil case and is not covered by the settlement. The former students "intend to proceed against Defendant Horner," Spradling wrote.

Salina is in northeastern Oklahoma, near Lake Hudson, about an hour's drive from Tulsa. Horner started working for Salina Public Schools in 2012. He was suspended with pay in 2019 and fired in 2020.

Police began looking into complaints about Horner in March 2019 after hearing from the superintendent and then parents about a school investigation.

The superintendent at the time had said 10 to 15 children had been brought in and spoken with and "there was no need for further investigation," police reported.

"I don't recall that being said exactly like that," former Superintendent Tony Thomas testified in a deposition for the lawsuit.

Thomas testified he actually already had decided to interview all eighth-graders about Horner once they got back from spring break.

The school district and Horner were sued at first in Mayes County District Court in 2020. The case was moved to federal court in Tulsa and eventually consolidated with other cases there. A jury trial had been set for September.

Key to the civil case were witness statements that school officials had been told about Horner's misconduct years before.

One witness said she complained to Principal Debbie Cox in 2013 or 2014 after Horner inappropriately touched her granddaughter.

"Debbie said he is a good teacher. He doesn't mean anything by it," the witness recalled in a 2022 deposition. "And I told her it has to stop.

"To me, it was a brushoff," the witness also said. "We all knew that they were friends. ... I couldn't make her understand this is something you need to look into."

Another witness said she called the principal in 2015 after her son told her about Horner.

"He had told me that one of the girls ... had told him during like a recess period that she did not want to sit on Mr. Horner's lap," the witness testified. "And ... he would make her sit on his lap and that he would touch her leg when she would come up and ask for help and that she was crying and she was very upset about it."

The witness recalled the principal saying she had already heard from boys in the school about the issue and would take care of it.

"Honestly she just kind of laughed it off," the witness testified in a 2022 deposition. "She just made light of it. ... I was pretty upset when I got off the phone with her."

She said Horner's behavior was not a secret.

"It was just blatantly out there," she said. "And I feel like that Salina, as a school district, ... I think they failed all those kids.

"They failed them all those years. From the time that I reported it, all of those years they allowed that man to stay in there."

Cox is now retired. She declined comment on the case last week.

Horner has denied wrongdoing in the civil case. He even sued the school district himself, alleging he was wrongfully terminated. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The school district also denied wrongdoing.

In an answer to the lawsuit, it admitted employees "have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to keep students safe."

It added, "However, the School District and its employees cannot guarantee the safety of any student."

Horner was the head football coach for five seasons at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah before going to Salina. NSU finished 3-7 in 2007, his last season.

Salina police checked with the university and found out a female student worker had made a complaint about Horner in 2003 or 2004. Horner had been reprimanded after the student stated he "had done some things that made her uncomfortable," according to police reports.

The first $1 million of the settlement will be paid by the district "or another entity on its behalf," according to the notice. That language is an indication some or all of the first payment may come from insurance.

The rest will be paid out over three years from the school district's sinking fund. That means a hike in property taxes in the school district is likely.

The current Salina Public Schools superintendent, Earl Dalke, said Thursday the school board agreed in December to settle but must still sign off on it.

"There still has to be another special meeting for it to be finalized," Dalke said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma school district settling teacher misconduct lawsuit for $2.6M