Wisconsin teacher sexual misconduct investigations stir new debate

MILWAUKEE - Some Wisconsin lawmakers accuse the state of shielding teacher sexual misconduct. They want answers from the state's top elected education leader. 

Shielding teacher sexual misconduct and grooming?

What we know:

The Capital Times reported its review of public records revealed the state investigated 200 educators over a five-year span for allegations of grooming and sexual misconduct against students, calling it "information previously unknown to the public."

Wisconsin Superintendent Jill Underly takes issue with that, writing, "The article’s implication that the DPI withholds information from the public is categorically false."

An Assembly committee chaired by Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) scheduled a hearing for next week, and wants Underly to testify. Legally, she is not required to show up. 

"It’s clear DPI has chosen to protect their abusers rather than the children. Parents in the public school system will now have zero trust in the administration and the staff," stated Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester).
 

"Let me be clear: The DPI investigates every allegation of educator misconduct with the highest level of seriousness and effort," Underly stated.

Local perspective:

Now-former Kenosha teacher Christian Enwright is in jail. In court documents, prosecutors describe his behavior as "grooming," sending hundreds of Snapchat messages to a student. 

Enwright pleaded guilty this year to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. 

"That's all they could do. They didn't have any crime that you could charge them with, so their hands were tied, saying, ‘We wish there was something more we can do,'" said State Rep. Nedweski, who is working on a bill to punish grooming as a crime. "The ‘grooming as a crime’ bill would establish grooming as a criminal act in Wisconsin, give it a definition, what's included under that umbrella with different levels of penalties for different types of actions."

Until the law changes…

Dig deeper:

Until the law changes, there is another avenue to investigate Wisconsin teachers accused of grooming – the state's Department of Public Instruction (DPI). 

That is why state lawmakers are demanding answers. They are reacting to the investigation in the Madison newspaper, The Capital Times. The article says public records show DPI would end misconduct investigations "if the educator gave up their teaching license." 

"If you're making a deal with someone to voluntarily surrender their license and resign in exchange for stopping an investigation that may have included some criminal activity, you're not doing the victim any justice, and you're certainly not doing the public any justice," said Nedweski.

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Jill Underly, the Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is challenging the reporting, asking for a correction. She wrote the following in a letter to the paper:

"When educators choose to surrender their license during an investigation, it is not a loophole. It is a binding, legal agreement to a permanent, lifetime ban on their ability to teach in Wisconsin."

Underly added the license surrender gets reported nationally to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) database.

Back to the Enwright case

What we know:

If you look up former teacher Christian Enwright's license on the DPI website, you will not find any information about his misdemeanor conviction. But you will find a note that says of his license status: "Voluntary Surrender."