Complaints are continuing to become public asserting that the Shawano School District does not do enough to combat bullying, and now the Shawano School Board is planning to look at district policies and data to see where things should be improved.
Two parents spoke at the Oct. 26 board meeting about how their children were bullied, and how little has been done to deal with the problem. The meeting came a few days after Superintendent Kurt Krizan sent out a letter to families in response to bullying issues addressed on social media.
Lance Paulson, who described himself as “a disgusted, disappointed and heartbroken member of the community,” as well as coming from a family of educators, told the board he was angry enough about the bullying issue to pull his daughter and two stepchildren from Shawano’s public schools.
“I believe it’s a complete failure of the people supposed to be protecting them,” Paulson said. “Let that sink in. One household. Three children. One school district.”
He noted that educators in the family had always instilled in him that schools were supposed to be safe places where children could succeed. He said the school district has destroyed that trust.
“I’m not the only one,” Paulson said. “I spent time compiling messages, comments and experiences shared by other community members online, and what I found was deeply disturbing — families describing bullying being completely ignored, families feeling dismissed, children being failed by the system meant to protect them.”
He added that there are allegations a child of a staff member is bullying other students and not being held accountable. He said bullying protocols exist on paper but do not happen in reality.
“Policies mean nothing if nobody enforces them,” Paulson said. “Where’s the urgency to really fix any of this? Hey, at least we’ve got a new football field, right? Apparently appearances and athletics deserve attention while children and parents are struggling in vain to be heard.”
Paulson said it hurts to see children struggling, reduced to tears and their faces showing fear about being bullied. He said parents shouldn’t have to choose between their children’s education and well-being.
“Underneath that anger is something worse. We are heartbroken,” Paulson said. “We wanted better for our children. We expected better from this district, and frankly our children deserve better than excuses, silence and empty promises.”
Stephanie Raddant, a mother of two, told the board she’s become increasingly concerned about what she has heard about bullying in the schools, noting that a lot of rumblings have circulated in recent weeks.
She added many of the families are opting to pull their children out of the Shawano public schools to either enroll in other districts or homeschool them. Raddant said the families have described feeling their children are unsafe.
“When families feel that leaving the district is their best or only option, we need to take a serious look at why that’s happening,” Raddant said.
She recommended improvements that should include clear timelines for investigating bullying, safety plans for students, accountability and intervention for those students who continue to bully classmates and clear metrics to determine if interventions have any effect.
“I believe parents need to be a part of this, too,” Raddant said. “We’re the ones hearing our children’s experiences at home, and we should have meaningful opportunities to contribute to solutions.”
She added that, according to current policy, the district is supposed to be doing surveys every two years about bullying. Krizan told the board that the latest survey has been done and results should be available in about two weeks, but it only addresses concerns from two years ago.
Raddant feels the surveys should be done annually instead of every two years, with results shared with the community.
“Every child deserves to go to school without being afraid of what another student might do to them,” she said. “Every child deserves to feel safe, and every parent deserves to know their concerns won’t be brushed aside.”
Board member Frank Kugel said he was unaware of parents’ concerns.
“I would really like to find out what is going on,” Kugel said. “I don’t have a clue, and it’s time I get aware of who, what, where and what’s happening so I don’t go here saying, ‘It’s the first I heard of it.’”
Board member Bobbi Lemerond said she wasn’t willing to wait on current data and wanted to see the last available bullying survey results. She noted that while there have been a lot of claims, she wonders how many other bullying incidents have gone unreported.
“We don’t hear about it, but if it doesn’t make it to the teacher … or the teacher doesn’t take it to their supervisor or their principal, or the principal doesn’t take it to Kurt, if it doesn’t make it through those channels, we’re not going to hear about it,” Lemerond said. “Parents need to be vigilant and making sure these things go through the process.”
She also suggested the district have an open forum and get the parents together to present their concerns.
Board member Ben Heninger also wanted to see the data, because it’s clear existing policy hasn’t provided enough safeguards.
“We know we’re off track, so how are we going to address that?” Heninger said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Shawano School Board member Karen Houston, left, speaks with parent Stephanie Raddant after the Oct. 26 board meeting. Raddant told the board about her concerns about bullying in the schools getting out of control. (Lee Pulaski | NEW Media)
