Damakant Jayshi
Accused of using racist and homophobic slurs in the classroom, a Wausau East High School teacher resigned Monday – but two investigations are ongoing into his conduct, and the district’s response to it.
In addition to investigations by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and an independent attorney appointed by the Wausau School Board, the family of the student who filed a complaint against band director Rob Perkins is continuing to explore all available legal tools to hold the district accountable.
On Monday night, district officials announced that Perkins’ resignation was accepted that evening by the Wausau School Board. The District’s communications coordinator, Diana White, said a search for Perkins’ replacement will begin immediately but declined to comment further.
The student’s family and their attorney said they welcomed the latest development in their months-long fight with the district.
“Perkins’ departure from the classroom is an important step towards accountability and justice,” Attorney Elisabeth Lambert, from Wisconsin Education Law and Policy Hub, said in a statement to this newspaper. “Students including my client have shown enormous courage in coming forward to share painful stories of their experiences in his classroom, and their courage and tenacity has paid off by making future students safer.”
“This has been a heartbreaking and difficult journey, but our intention has always been to protect our son and other children from the harm this teacher causes,” the student’s father, Twan Vongphakdy, told Wausau Pilot & Review.
This newspaper previously declined to disclose the student’s name to protect his identity, but Vongphakdy said the family name can be used. The student, who is Hmong, graduated last month.
The boy’s aunt, Jennifer Yang, termed Perkins’s resignation “a big step towards justice and vindication of what occurred” toward her nephew. “However, his resignation does not negate the ongoing investigations and appeals that are occurring,” Yang added. “We hold the truth and we trust the ongoing processes will show that in the end.”
In a press release issued by their attorney, Vongphakdy said that Perkins’s resignation “is an important step towards making Wausau East High School a safer place. We are relieved that future students will be spared these damaging experiences.”
A group of band students in May launched a strong defense of Perkins’ actions, saying the accusations were “widely dramatized and inaccurate.” The statements were made in an Instagram post entitled “Firsthand Accounts From Wausau East Students Regarding The Allegations Surrounding Rob Perkins.”
But other students came forward saying they, too, were subjected to racially insensitive remarks during their tenure at the school, both by Perkins and by other educators. Some students say their complaints were widely dismissed.
Vongphakdy pointed to their statements to suggest that the district has a racism problem that administrators failed to address.
“The problems our family’s experiences have exposed are much bigger than one person,” he said. “Multiple administrators failed to identify and bring an end to Perkin’s egregious conduct…The district must take accountability for these failures and learn from them so that they never happen again to another child. This accountability is necessary before true healing can begin.”
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Complaint initially dismissed after March investigation
The family first filed their complaint against the band director on March 16 with Wausau East Principal Deb Foster. A second complaint was sent via an email to Superintendent Keith Hilts and other directors on April 5, Vongphakdy said. The family met with district officials on April 10.
But the initial investigation resulted in Perkins’ reinstatement and his return to the classroom. Then, Human Resources head Tabatha Gundrum found that the teacher’s language did not rise to the level of harassment. Instead, Gundrum dismissed Perkins’ comments as part of an effort to create a “fun” environment in the classroom.
The family challenged the decision by filing a complaint with the Dept. of Public Instruction on May 9.
Members of the Wausau School Board say they were inundated with calls for a more thorough investigation of the allegations and, after hearing from students about their additional experiences, hired independent attorney Alana Leffer to conduct a second investigation.
Leffler then overturned the district’s decision to dismiss the complaint, citing procedural errors on the part of district officials, which White, in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, denied.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Lambert said that although the initial investigation was “procedurally mishandled, it confirmed racial and homophobic slurs in the classroom with witness corroboration.”
Vongphakdy declined to comment on their legal strategy at this time, “but we are going to explore and use the tools that are available to us” and follow the “ongoing processes at DPI and within the district to seek full redress” for their concerns.
Chris Bucher, communications officer at the DPI, confirmed a licensing investigation is ongoing, but declined to comment further.
“Our educator misconduct investigations typically take as long as they are needed, and when it is concluded, records related to the investigation are considered public record,” Bucher told Wausau Pilot & Review.
Meanwhile, the board-retained attorney’s investigation and review is also ongoing, said Board Vice President Lance Trollop, who said he had no additional information to share at this time.
