MILWAUKEE, Wis. — More issues in Milwaukee Public School's interscholastic athletics office are coming to light.
This comes a week after two football teams, Bay View High School and Pulaski High School, were forced to forfeit wins because district leaders failed to submit the proper paperwork.
TMJ4 investigates two new concerns over scheduling mismanagement and those who officiate those games not being paid.
Whether it's a flag, a foul, or a first down, they're the people players and coaches rely on.
"I have enjoyed doing it because I get to work in the interscholastic level, and I get to work with the kids," Curtis Rediske said.
For more than a decade, Rediske's been an MPS sports official, timer and score keeper. It's a job, he said, has become increasingly frustrating.
"About a year and a half ago, games started being changed and canceled at the last minute. Our first game, we had multiple crews at our game," Rediske said.
"So this has happened to you," Reporter Jenna Rae asked.
"Yeah, it was the first game of the season on August 23rd," he responded.
Last week, when the news about Bay View and Pulaski broke, TMJ4 talked to MPS' former athletics commissioner, Jan Doleschal. Scheduling issues was just one of the issues she highlighted.
"Here's what happened at football games. No crew showed up, or two crews showed up. So, when you layer that with the fact that officials aren't being paid in a timely fashion...that's a real problem," Doleschal explained.
Rediske echoed those concerns.
"It's actually almost a running joke where when you see the guys, the chain crews, and the stadium staff or other officials, it's like 'so have you been paid yet'," Rediske said.
Rediske said he hasn't been paid for games he officiated on September 5th, October 2nd and October 4th. That's despite getting a check for some games after those dates.
"Officials don't wanna officiate in MPS. I had a meeting with one of the officials associations within the last year, they don't want it anymore," Doleschal added.
Emails obtained by TMJ4 show officials have reached out multiple times to MPS' current athletic commissioner, Bobbie Kelsey, regarding pay concerns.
On October 1st, a referee emailed Kelsey and said they hadn't been paid for any of the eight games they officiated and said without at least partial payment they would not work.
Three days later, after an additional follow up email, Kelsey responded, apologized and said a new manager took over payroll following past hiring issues.
More emails show referees adding to those same concerns writing "if just one more of the crew decides also to boycott the game, the game will not go on because of a lack of officials."
The new manager of the interscholastic athletics office, Thomas Scholle-Malone, responded to those concerns and said "due to auditing issues from the last school year, I have been working with our finance office to ensure all officials are hired as vendors and active in our system."
Scholle-Malone goes on to ask the officials for "additional grace as we work through this transition."
"Why is it important for you to sit down and talk with us," Rae asked Rediske.
"It seems that everyone, everything's been kept hush-hush and behind closed doors, you know. People need to know and maybe if it starts getting out there and peer pressure sets in, things will straighten out a little and the employees will start to get paid," Rediske explained.
An MPS spokesperson said the district is aware of the concerns related to the wages and that they're investigating the circumstances that may have led to those concerns.
Since May, TMJ4 has been talking to students, parents, teachers, and other district employees about issues within MPS.
We know you have other concerns. If you have something you want us to investigate, email Jenna.Rae@tmj4.com.
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