Damakant Jayshi

The Wausau School Board on Monday will hold a closed session during a special meeting “to discuss and consider investigation of [an] employee matter,” according to district documents.

District officials have so far not commented on the details of any current investigation and have not responded to questions about the matter. The closed session on Monday follows a regular meeting of the board’s Education/Operations Committee that, among other agenda items, will include an update on the district superintendent search. Superintendent Keith Hilts announced late last year that he would step down after the current school year ends.

Board President James Bouche told Wausau Pilot & Review that the closed session has been requested by the district’s Human Resources department. “What you see in the posting is all that we know at this time,” Bouche said. He did not share any further details.

Last year, some closed sessions led to big decisions or at least caused major shakeups within the district.

In June, district officials were set to consider the fate of Rob Perkins, the Wausau East High School band director, in a closed session, after a student raised allegations of racist and homophobic behavior. Perkins resigned, and the board accepted the resignation.

The following month the board upheld the administration’s decision to dismiss a complaint filed by a Wausau East counselor over an employment-related matter at the school against Deb Foster, who was principal of the school at the time.

The counselor, Manee Yang-Vongphakdy, is the mother of the student who had filed the complaint against the band director. Yang-Vongphakdy accused Foster of racial discrimination against her. After Hilts dismissed her complaint in mid-June, the counselor had filed an appeal with the school board.

Although the board upheld Hilts’ decision in July, Foster was out as East principal the following month, just a few weeks before the new academic session was about to begin. The decision was announced after an abruptly-held closed session on Aug. 17. The agenda was posted just a day before the session.

“We regret to inform you that Mrs. Deb Foster will not be serving as the Wausau East Principal this year,” Wausau School District officials wrote in an email to staff and families of East students soon after the closed session. A news release issued the following day, Aug. 18, said Foster would “serve in another administrative role.” Foster was subsequently named as director of curriculum in the district and has been in that role ever since.

Closed sessions are held when an open discussion could have a “substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of the individuals involved,” according to state statute. Wausau’s discussion also involves confidential student information, according to the language of the agenda for Monday’s meeting.

This is a developing story.