CLINTONVILLE, WI (WTAQ) – Clintonville Police are still looking into the details of messages that were posted pertaining to frustration over a dance that was performed by four students that was insulting to Native Americans.
Clintonville Police say some of the social media responses were concerning.
“There were a lot of irate and angry people that were responding,” Chief Craig Freitag said. “There was no credible threat to the students, staff or the school district.”
In a press release, Freitag said emotions were running high that day.
“The Clintonville Police Department has the primary goal of protecting students during this emotional time.”
Freitag says they worked with the school district and supported their decision to cancel Homecoming activities last week out of safety concerns.
“The decision to cancel the football game and parade was a decision that the school district made, but we would have supported either decision.”
He said that means taking some extra efforts for the football game.
“If the school had planned on having the game, we would have been prepared to have extra officers there.”
One of the concerns addressed by the administration was the concern for protesting, but Freitag says that would have been allowed.
“That is well within anybody’s rights to peacefully protest and we would have honored that by allowing them to do that,” he said. “That is the people’s constitutional right to do that.”
He says they developed a plan to address safety and still allow people to exercise their right.
Freitag says it was also mentioned by some that the school was on a lockdown Friday, but that was not the case. He says the district calls it a “hold” and it is a little different.
“They were not going to have any outdoor activities but kids were free to walk the hallway at that time and kids were leaving campus.”
Some students did leave for the day.
“Students were able to leave with a parents permission or with parents taking them.”
Freitag says they are still looking into some of the messages that were sent to see how or if they need to proceed with a response.
“Any threat against a school or a particular individual is treated with the utmost seriousness. A thorough investigation will be done by the Police Department and an appropriate response will be sought.”
Superintendent David Dyb (Deeb) says they are working on a plan to understand, celebrate and embrace diversity in the school and community.
OFFICIAL MESSAGE OF DYB
“With our students back in school for another week of classes, the district is focusing on movingforward following last week’s unfortunate event and the subsequent fallout. Once again, weapologize for what took place, as we focus now on a restorative understanding of the harm that’sbeen caused.This is certainly a very emotional issue and I want everyone to understand that theadministration, staff and students in our school district are taking this very seriously.We are currently in the process of reviewing and improving an on-going approach to diversityand cultural education within our schools. We will continue to communicate with theneighboring Native American tribes, the Great Lakes Intertribal Council and the Department ofPublic Instruction to seek their feedback, knowledge and resources on this important matter. Ourgoal is to further develop a meaningful, thoughtful and impactful plan to better understand,embrace and celebrate diversity in our school and our community.We know it is very important to provide resources to help our students and staff with the healingand restorative process. We will continue to update the community as these planning effortscome together.”
