A federal lawsuit against the Oconto Falls School District accuses officials of ignoring and condoning sexual abuse and grooming of students by teachers and coaches over the past 20 years.
“This was a school that had unwritten policies, customs and practices that enabled sex abuse and grooming and sexualized conduct toward students to flourish,” said Cass Casper, lead attorney in the case filed March 11 by Disparti Law Group. “The culture, the environment enabled this conduct, tacitly at least, condoned this conduct by teachers, despite warning sign after warning sign.”
The civil rights lawsuit was brought on behalf of three former students – Amanda Watzka, Brooke La Count and Grace Williams – who all claim they were abused and groomed by teachers and coaches, while district officials did nothing to stop the abuse.
Oconto Falls School District Superintendent Stuart Russ released a statement on behalf of the district. In it, the district noted that the complaint against two former employees was dealt with internally and then referred to law enforcement, resulting in one person serving time in prison.
“Plaintiffs threatened to sue the District and made substantial monetary demands in August 2025,” according to the district. “Since August, the District has responded to plaintiffs and their attorney to recognize the wrongs by these two former employees, but also to help them understand that the District took prompt action when it was made aware of the misconduct.”
District officials believe they have taken appropriate action when notified of misconduct allegations.
“The District’s staff of excellent professional educators strive every day to deliver a great educational experience for all students,” according to the statement. “This is not diminished by the inexcusable actions of these identified former employees. In every instance in which the District became aware of allegations against an individual, definitive action has been taken.”
Casper said through attorneys’ investigation over the past eight months, they identified at least nine teachers and staff who engaged in sexual abuse, grooming or severe sexualized misconduct with other students.
Besides the three women named in the complaint, at least 14 other victims have come forward, citing abuse over 20 years from 2005-25.
“All of them are willing to help and participate in this case,” Casper said.
Three teachers are named in the lawsuit, although none are named as defendants. They are David Heisel, Brynn Larsen and Gayle Gander. Five others were mentioned but not named.
Casper said some of the accused continue to work for the school district.
Gander was arrested in December 2025 on multiple charges of sexual misconduct. Larsen served two years in prison on charges of third-degree sexual assault. There are no charges against Heisel in the Wisconsin court system.
Watzka said she was groomed and sexually abused while she was a student from approximately 2010-13, when she was between the ages of 16 and 18.
La Count said she was groomed and sexually abused while a 15-year-old sophomore during the 2013-14 school year.
Williams said she was groomed and sexually abused when she was a 17-year-old junior in February through April 2018.
“At the time Grace was abused by Brynn Marie Larsen, the district already had notice that Brynn Marie Larsen presented a problem — presented a risk of sex abuse to children, yet Brynn Marie Larsen was working at Oconto Falls still in 2018, after abusing Brooke so she could victimize Grace,” Casper said.
Attorney Larry Disparti said the case is not just about the individual abusers.
“It’s about a school district that allowed these activities to go on even though there were multiple years of reporting and warning signs, yet they failed to act,” he said.
The three women are seeking compensation and meaningful change to prevent future cases of abuse.
“My personal abuser has not been held accountable at all at this point, and we’re over a year from me coming forward,” Watzka said. “It’s been an ongoing cause of hurt and pain. Coming forward, having the voice to do so and the means to do so and the support to do so is important, because not everybody has that opportunity that is in the same position that we are in.”
Casper said the three women are seeking compensation for real and lasting emotional harm they suffered, trauma, lost opportunities, self-doubt and the inability to trust adults.
They also want new district policies that would require more training for staff about the warning signs of grooming and abuse, mandatory reporting on mere suspicion of abuse and punishment for those who cross boundaries.
“The goal of this lawsuit is to cause cultural change, both at Oconto Falls High School where this happened and hopefully throughout the region,” Casper said.
“It’s gotta stop, right? So it takes somebody to have the courage to step up and stop it; otherwise, it’s going to continue for another 20 years,” Watzka said. “I just want to prevent that as much as possible, because it has impacted my life greatly.”
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
