Wausau School Board. MWC file photo by Mike Leischner
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau School Board heard over a half-hour of public comment regarding last week’s news of a teacher who had been dressing as a Native American as part of a lesson on Indigenous history.
That included former Board president and member of the Ho-Chunk Nation Tricia Zunker, who called on the board to take concrete action in response to the situation. That list included having conversations with Native American education leaders at the Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, and local tribal leaders. She also called for the hiring of a diversity, equity, and inclusion director. She also called on everyone in the district to complete implicit bias training.
“Please address this publicly and transparently with everybody,” said Zunker. “I hope to see this on your next agenda, I hope to see an update by email, a press release, and information posted on the [district] website of what you will be doing- concrete and tangibly, to respond to this.
“It is never good educational policy to stereotype against an entire race of people,” added Zunker. “Last week’s conduct happened, the question is what are you going to do about it?”
The district did issue a response to the situation late last week, which Zunker also criticized. “That response stated ‘in an effort to create a fun learning environment,’ essentially justifying the racist conduct to students in the name of fun.”
RELATED: Wausau School District Releases Additional Statement Regarding Classroom Incident
Multiple people, many of them belonging to Indigenous tribes, criticized the district for allowing the lessons to continue for years. That included the parent of the child who blew the whistle on the situation last week. Others said if the district allows this to continue, they will only water down the meaning of Indigenous history and cause the culture to be lost.
Another representative of the Ho-Chunk Nation provided the board with a packet of information including contact info for tribal leaders, saying they would be more than willing to help the board craft a meaningful curriculum to ensure that the history is taught respectfully.
The district did release the following statement after Monday’s meeting:
“The Wausau School District’s mission is to advance student learning, achievement, and success. That’s why work is beginning in the District to review curriculum, and its delivery, to
ensure it is respectful to all cultures and heritages. With these changes, the District will be providing ongoing professional learning for all staff. We are committed to ensuring all students
thrive and there will be positive changes.”
Following the input, the board discussed proposed language brought forward by President Pat McKee regarding board members using time during public input to speak. The proposal was brought on by recent incidents of Board Member Jane Rusch, who says she’s made attempts to get items agendized for discussion but received no response.
“I choose to speak in public comment because now that we are in the minority we don’t have a voice on this board anymore. We ask to have things put on the agenda and it is ignored. That never happened in the past,” said Rusch.
She did not clarify what she meant by “in the minority,” but did gesture to herself and Ka Lo while saying “we.”
McKee says while the proposed language is not meant to keep board members from giving public comment. It is there to draw a line between being a board member and a member of the public. “This is just a formalization of the fact that the board and board members acknowledge that they do so at their own risk or peril, whatever word you want to use,” he added.
The board took no action on the matter Monday evening but will gather more information on how public comment by board members could potentially violate open meetings laws, including if it would be a violation if multiple members spoke on the same issue that wasn’t previously agendized. Lo also asked to see what the legal advice to the board was on the matter.
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