Wausau School District Resolves Race and Sexual Orientation Harassment Complaint with Former Student

JOINT STATEMENT

FOR MMC

On August 29, 2024, Wausau School District (“District”) reached a mutual resolution with a former student and his family of the student’s claims of unlawful harassment because of his race, national origin, and sexual orientation by a former teacher.

The student, who attended Wausau East High School until his graduation in 2023, is gay and of Hmong and Lao descent. In spring 2023, the student and his parents filed a complaint with the District that the teacher had subjected him to harassment because of these factors. In an appeal filed in May 2023 with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (“DPI”), the student and his parents disputed District administrators’ initial determination that the teacher’s conduct did not violate the student’s rights.

After the appeal was filed, the Wausau Board of Education retained attorney Alana Leffler to conduct an independent investigation. After her investigation, Leffler issued a report concluding that the student had been subjected to discrimination and harassment because of his race and sexual orientation.

To resolve the DPI appeal and related legal claims, the parties reached a resolution in which the

District has agreed to enter compliance monitoring by the Wisconsin Department of Public

Instruction on a stipulated corrective action plan under which the District will:

• Designate District and school-level nondiscrimination coordinators for each middle school and high school;
• Post information on the District and school-level websites with the names of the District-wide and school-level nondiscrimination coordinators and clear instructions for how to report discriminatory or harassing conduct;
• Provide training to District staff that addresses how discrimination (including harassment) and implicit bias experienced by members of the Hmong, Lao, and LGBTQ+ communities in Wisconsin affects the ability of students from those communities to participate and feel safe at school;
• Train the District’s nondiscrimination coordinators, administrators, and staff on how to identify, report, investigate, and respond appropriately to complaints of discriminatory harassment under Board policy and state and federal law; and
• Continue conducting annual school climate surveys of students to identify students’ experiences with discrimination (including harassment) based on race, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), and other protected classes protected by District policy, Wisconsin state law, and federal civil rights laws.

The District will also compensate the student for the injuries he suffered and his attorneys’ fees.

The student, his family, and the District believe that current and future students of the Wausau

School District will benefit from the actions the District has agreed to take to resolve this matter.