By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
Wausau School Superintendent Keith Hilts’ handling of allegations of racism in the district echoes two racially-charged controversies during his tenure with the Ashland School District, one of which attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union.
On Monday, the board and Hilts were subjected to withering criticism during about 90 minutes of public comment. Mary Thao, one of more than two dozen speakers during Monday’s meeting, passed each board member a printout of a statement she said was written by Hilts.
“As to communication, we have been advised to be quiet,” Hilts’ statement, read aloud by Thao, said. “The less we say, the quicker this passes by.”
Thao, a former Wausau School Board member, said “how dishonorable, of the highest leader of your school district to devalue the Asian American community this way. This sends a clear message that our Asian American children have no value or priority by the Wausau School District.”
The Wausau School Board was not involved in the decision to reinstate Perkins or the surrounding investigation, though several board members say they have taken intense criticism from the public. On Tuesday, the board released a statement that said members were “not allowed to see the results of investigations into employees because of constitutional due process” but will hire its own “third-party, independent attorney to review a recent investigation into one of the district’s employees and to look into new allegations that have come forward.”
In February 2018, the board’s decision to name Hilts as the district’s new superintendent drew mixed reaction from residents, some of whom said they were concerned about his prior handling of several incidents in Ashland. Hilts assumed the role in Wausau on July 2, 2018 even after questions arose about how he would manage issues of race in a larger, more diverse community and create a welcoming destination for minority teachers.
Ashland controversies
In Ashland, where Hilts served from 2010 to 2018, Hilts and the entire district was criticized after a homecoming float included white students dressed as illegal immigrants. The float in 2016 featured a makeshift wall with students on one side dressed as Mexicans clad in “drug rugs” with fake mustaches or in plaid shirts buttoned at the top and bandannas on their heads, with a mock Donald Trump on the other side, according to the Ashland Daily Press.
A racial and political controversy ensued. Hilts acknowledged that he approved the float theme but did not expect racially slanted messages. He released a statement that said the district would “take this opportunity to engage our students in a mature conversation about race and media and unintended consequences.”
One year later, Hilts and Ashland made headlines after he suspended an elementary school teacher over a social media post related to the fatal shooting of a Native American student by a sheriff’s deputy.
The controversy erupted after Ojibwe language instructor Sandra Gokee said 14-year-old Jason Pero was “murdered by police,” according to the Associated Press. The boy was shot by a deputy Nov. 8, 2017 on the Bad River Band Reservation after refusing commands to drop a butcher knife. Hilts called Gokee’s posts defamatory and inflammatory, and placed her on administrative leave. In his letter to Gokee, Hilts said Gokee’s comments “raised concerns about the safety of students who are the children of law enforcement officers, created tension with law enforcement, and created racial tensions within our school.”
But Hilts’ decision prompted the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin to send a letter to the district asking that Gokee be reinstated. Asma Kadri, attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said the posts are protected speech under the First Amendment and that Gokee was well within her constitutional rights as a citizen when expressing her view. The Supreme Court has long held that “a State may not discharge an employee on a basis that infringes that employee’s constitutionally protected interest in freedom of speech,” the ACLU’s letter stated.
Gokee was later reinstated and returned to work in January 2018.
Thao: “Showing prejudice…is systematically part of the Wausau School District’s DNA”
Though most speakers Monday criticized the decision to retain the school’s band director, the accusations against Mr. Perkins were refuted by a group of students from Wausau East. Those students defended the teacher with a point-by-point rebuttal related to the allegations posted on Instagram.
Thao said Monday that the board and administration’s failure to adequately address the controversy surrounding allegations of racism is the latest in a long line of deficiencies in the district.
“Showing prejudice against marginalized groups is systematically part of the Wausau School District’s DNA from the top down,” Thao said. “By doing nothing, board members, you continue to be an enabler of a harmful culture that has been long normalized by your institution.”
“I challenge you, all of you, to shake down your organization,” Thao went on to say.
On Monday, some speakers said complaints by students of color about district educators have often been ignored or “swept under the rug.” One speaker, who broke down while sharing her experience, said she was asked to “go back to China” and “go back to where you belong.”
A former student who graduated from Wausau West last spring said Monday that just because school officials did not experience hate firsthand did not mean it does not exist.
“Please do better, be better,” she said. “Our Asian community will not be silenced.”
Neither Hilts nor Board President James Bouche immediately responded to a request for comment for this story.
