Gayle Gander (Oconto County Jail)
OCONTO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Former Oconto Falls High School staff member Gayle Gander pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegedly having inappropriate sexual conduct with seven students.
Gander, 60, faces 11 charges, including child enticement and sexual misconduct by a school staff member. No trial date was set. He returns to court June 18 for a status conference, court records show.
Gander was an English teacher and the director of the performing arts center. He was fired after his arrest.
According to the criminal complaint, the incidents happened between March 2024 and December 2025. The complaint offers an extensive physical description of the layout of the theater department and, specifically, a “black box” space which had limited access by key. The complaint then details descriptions from the seven students of massages, shirts being removed and other physical contact.
Gander admitted to engaging in the contact.
Gander described the contacts with the multiple victims as ‘buddy buddy’ where he would come up behind them and rub their shoulders. Gander said that the contact wasn’t intended to be sexual, and that ‘one thing led to another.’ I told Gander that multiple victims were reporting that Gander would remove the shirts of the victims as part of the massage ritual. I asked Gander about that and he said that ‘sometimes the shirt did come up.’ Gander admitted that ‘the shirt coming up’ happened to a couple of them Gander said that his intention in massaging the victims was to help them relax and build comradery,” the complaint states.
An officer also suggested to Gander he was grooming the students.
“I told Gander that he watches the same protection videos at the beginning of every school year that I do, and said this sounds like grooming. Gander agreed, but said that wasn’t his intention. Gander said that there was no gratification on his part, other than helping the students relax,” the complaint states.
Gander is also one of the teachers named in a civil lawsuit against the Oconto Falls School District, alleging a long-term pattern of ignoring sexual misconduct by staff members in the district.
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