PULASKI, WI (WTAQ) – Former Pulaski school district Superintendent Milt Thompson was accused of six charges by the school board surrounding dishonesty, disloyalty and incompetence before reaching a resignation agreement earlier this month.
Those are the findings in documents obtained by WTAQ through an open records request, which can be viewed above.
On June 3, Thompson and the school board publicly announced an agreement which had him resign in the wake of a nearly two-month leave. The circumstances surrounding that decision by the board were never made public.
According to the documents, the school board outlined six specific circumstances which they say supported Thompson’s firing:
- Disloyalty/dishonesty to the Board concerning the termination of the Varsity Girls Basketball Team Coach. During the events of last spring, you acknowledged that you had not been entirely honest with the Board regarding those events. The Board discussed its concerns regarding honesty with the Board during several meetings involving these events.
- Disloyalty/dishonesty to the Board concerning discontinuing the afterschool childcare program. You mislead both the Board and the public regarding this matter, which was discussed with you in closed sessions in August 2014. Again, you acknowledged that you had not been forthright in handling this matter. The Board specifically requested that you communicate to the parents that the decision to close the program and then re-open was entirely your own without any action by the Board. You never followed through with that communication.
- Disloyalty/dishonesty to the Board regarding documentation concerning an administrator’s performance. In January 2015 you were asked pointedly whether you had followed through with oversight of another administrative employee and specifically whether that information was in the administrator’s personnel file. You stated directly that it was. That was not the case. Upon review of the file, you had not placed the information in the file as discussed. This particular administrator’s file did contain information regarding his temper and inability to appropriately interact with parents in difficult situations. Unfortunately, his behavior repeated itself in March of this year, resulting in further disciplinary action, which, had appropriate and timely oversight been provided, may not have occurred.
- Disloyalty/dishonesty to the Board regarding your attendance at the 2015 State Education Convention. At the time, you were representing a separate organization during your attendance. The District covered your registration expenses, but you were in attendance as a representative of this other organization. You mentioned that you had taken (3) vacation days, but only 1/2 day was recorded as such.
- Disloyalty/dishonesty to the Board regarding your internet usage during regular school district business hours. On several occasions you indicated to Board members that you only access the Rosetta Stone website for your Spanish lessons after hours, specifically, after 4:30 p.m. A limited search of your account activity showed that in the course of about one month you accessed the Rosetta Stone website over 3,500 times and frequently before 4:30 p.m.
- Incompetence with respect to knowledge of employee rights and Wisconsin’s public records laws. Following the events of March 17 and 18 involving a teacher disciplinary matter and a student fight, you met with the parents of the students and at that meeting, pursuant to the parents’ request, provided them with District employee disciplinary documentation without first complying with the employee’s right to advance notice and opportunity to challenge the release consistent with Section 19.356, Wis. Stats. As custodian of the District’s records and as the head administrator, you are expected to follow comply with these rules. Your failure to do so placed the District in a potential precarious legal position.
In a statement provided by the district, Thompson addressed the public release of these records.
“Like a lawsuit, the charges brought by the Board are allegations – nothing more,” said Thompson. “I acknowledge that I was not perfect, however both sides made mistakes during my tenure. I was never disloyal nor did I ever intend to mislead the Board in any of the matters discussed in the notice or otherwise.”
Thompson went on to say that, “although the allegations against me lacked substance and gravity, I came to the conclusion that it would be difficult for me to continue to work with the Board as District Administrator.”
Thompson was hired by the district in July 2013 and was given a contract extension through next year. As part of the resignation agreement, the district will pay Thompson his full salary through the rest of 2015. Thompson will also earn his salary through March 31, 2016, unless he gets another job.
Assistant superintendent Bec Kurzynske has taken over as the Pulaski School District’s interim superintendent since Thompson was placed on leave April 8.
