FRANKSVILLE, Wis. — During a special board meeting meant to interview an interim superintendent candidate, the five-person Raymond School Board takes the meeting behind closed doors away from citizens.
“This has become the norm,” one woman said, wishing to keep her name anonymous to avoid any retaliation by the school district. “We have no voice.”
The residents in attendance for Monday’s special meeting say the lack of transparency really started after Raymond School Principal Jeff Peterson was suspended. Peterson has since filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming he was discriminated against due to his sexual orientation.
Then, current Superintendent Michael Garvey filed a resignation in October due to the hostility he’s received during this process.
The group of parents and residents at the board meeting say, on top of the secrecy behind the handling of Peterson and Garvey’s resignation, they are not receiving information from the school that they are requesting through open records.
Then, when the community has questions, they are stonewalled.
“We have a right to know what’s going on,” the unnamed woman said. “We don’t know what’s going on. We can’t ask questions. People are getting frustrated because nobody knows what’s going on.”
After about an hour and a half, the five-person board returned from its closed-door meeting. Then, in less than 30 seconds, they adjourned.
“We have met with [a] potential candidate to fill [the] interim superintendent position. That process will continue over the coming weeks. Thank you for your continued interest in the Raymond School District."
“Can you tell us anything about the process? How many you are planning on interviewing? Are you planning on hiring a full-time or part-time?” One woman in the crowd asked.
“The meeting is adjourned. We have no further details," a board member responded.
TMJ4 News attempted to get the board members to respond to the questions on camera but they declined as they quickly exited the building. They directed questions to the school district.
“More of the same,” Mitchell Berman said. “This is kind of our issue we’ve been dealing with for the last year. It’s a lack of transparency.”
Berman says he just wants answers but feels the school board isn’t interested in providing any.
“We didn’t know how many candidates they have, what qualifications they had, what the job was going to look like,” Berman said. “All things we’re concerned about considering everything going on.”
Wednesday, another special meeting will be held to discuss the future of Principal Jeff Peterson. The agenda suggests the meeting will again go into a closed session away from the taxpayers questioning the group charged with spending their tax dollars.
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