Parents at Catholic school angry over change of principals
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Parents at Holy Wisdom Academy in Milwaukee are angry over the departure of their leader. More than 100 people marched on the city's south side Tuesday, March 12th to protest the decision to change principals at the school.
Dozens of Holy Wisdom parents kept their kids out of school on Tuesday. Instead, they joined the adults in calling for the parish to bring back Principal Richard Mason.
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee confirmed Mason was removed as principal on Tuesday, effective immediately.
"He knows every single kid, every single parent, every single staff, their situation and he's an honest person," Yazmin Figueroa said.
Protesters say since most of the school's families are Hispanic, it doesn't make sense to get rid of a bilingual principal.
"It's really easy for us to approach him without the necessity of someone to translate for us -- a third person that we might not know what he's talking about," Figueroa said.
The Archdiocese says the intention is to find a bilingual replacement, adding the decision not to renew Mason's contract was made by the parish's pastor, Father Michael Ignaszak.
Parents say Ignaszak declined to explain his decision when asked about it by parents.
"He's very unapproachable, very. Personally, I think he's very arrogant. He doesn't want to listen. Whatever he thinks is what it's going to be," Manual Munoz said.
"We have a right to know because this could be his church but it's our school. It's our kids going there. It's our kids' education that we care for," Figueroa said.
The protesting parents say the last resort is putting their kids in another school.
"I've been hearing a lot of people that they're gonna plan to follow Mr. Mason wherever he goes, even teachers," Munoz said.
FOX6 news reached out to both Richard Mason and Father Michael Ignaszak. Neither man returned calls.
The Archdiocese said in situations like this, it handles media inquiries but couldn't say more because this is a personnel matter.