Wausau School District settles harassment case with former student

The Wausau School District will compensate a former East High School student who was subjected to racial, homophobic discrimination and harassment by a former band teacher after reaching a settlement with the family, officials said.

District officials did not specify the amount they will pay in damages and attorney fees to the Vongphakdy family.

A joint statement from the family and the district announcing the settlement was released early Wednesday. Reached in August, the terms of the settlement also call for the district to enter “compliance monitoring by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on a stipulated corrective action plan, “officials said.

Additional steps are being taken to avoid a similar situation in the future.

District officials say they will appoint nondiscrimination coordinators at each middle and high school, who will oversee efforts to address and prevent discrimination. Staff will receive training on the impact of discrimination and implicit bias, particularly focusing on the Hmong, Lao, and LGBTQ+ communities, and how such issues affect student safety and participation. Additionally, school staff, including nondiscrimination coordinators, will be trained to properly handle and respond to complaints of harassment according to district policy and legal requirements. The district will also continue to conduct annual surveys to assess student experiences with discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, and other protected classes.

The settlement comes 17 months after allegations surfaced. Last year, some Asian American community members in Wausau demanded a public apology and policy changes due to reports of discrimination and harassment. The accused teacher, Rob Perkins, resigned.

An investigation began in March 2023 after the student, who is Hmong, reported he was subject to repeated racist, homophobic comments in the classroom, a charge some students rejected in an Instagram post. The Vongphakdy family filed a formal complaint, which was investigated by HR Director Tabatha Gundrum. She found that Perkins’ language did not rise to the level of harassment.

But in the days that followed and during a subsequent Wausau School Board meeting, some students shared their own experiences in Perkins’ and other classrooms that suggested a deep-rooted racism issue within the district.

In an appeal filed in May 2023 with the DPI, the student and his parents disputed District administrators’ initial determination that the teacher’s conduct did not violate the student’s rights.

The Wausau School Board responded by hiring an independent attorney to investigate the complaint. The attorney, Alana Leffler from Buelow Vetter law firm, overturned the result of the district’s investigation. Leffler’s report concluded that the student had been subjected to discrimination and harassment because of his race and sexual orientation.

In August 2023, district officials denied any wrongdoing. The settlement now brings the investigation to an end.

“The student, his family, and the District believe that current and future students of the Wausau School District will benefit from the actions the District has agreed to take to resolve this matter,” the Sept. 25 joint statement reads.