Although the Green Bay Area Public School District has taken some action to fight alleged abuse at Washington Middle School, teachers and staff say district administrators need to do more to help fix the rampant problems, according to new documents received by NBC26.
Email communications between the Board of Education, district and school administrators and teachers show the Board and district responded the next day when a former WMS teacher contacted Board member Ed Dorff about the problems at the school on May 7.
Kerstin Westcott, who later appeared at a school board meeting to share her concerns, outlined widespread problems of physical fights, use of vulgar and inappropriate language, vandalism and even sexual harassment in her letter to Dorff.
He immediately emailed the entire school board and superintendent Dr. Michelle Langenfeld.
"The overall tenor of what is being described is horrifying and requires immediate attention in my view," said Dorff in the email on May 7. "Immediate as in first thing tomorrow morning and with extreme diligence."
By Tuesday, May 9, 2017 the district had outlined several steps to improve the deteriorating situation at Washington, including adding a central office administrator on site until the end of the school year, adding hours to make a monitor full time and bringing in an experienced teacher from The Academy of Dr. Rosa Minoka-Hill School for two hours a day, documents showed.
On May 17, Washington Middle School administrators also held a staff meeting to address some of the issues and discuss how the situation could be improved. A follow-up email explained the need for teachers to be visible in the hallways and have positive interactions with students and for educators to "check in on" each other.
However, some teachers expressed frustration after the meeting, saying the message was not well received. One teacher shared her feelings that the blame is put onto the teachers with no responsibility falling on school or district administration.
"There is a range of negative emotions from last night's meeting ranging from sad and disappointed to angry and frustrated," she wrote to a Board of Education member on May 18. "We are beyond the point where teachers can keep this building safe, and yet no one above us is talking about what they are going to do to keep us safe."
Although the district did implement changes in May, the problems allegedly persisted, according to Westcott. During her June 5 testimony, she shared alleged incidents that took place in the school over the few days prior to her appearance at the meeting.
Continuing Problems
Concerns over student behavior and inconsistent discipline at Washington Middle School existed before last school year, according to documents obtained by NBC26.
A self-assessment survey completed by teachers and staff at the school showed many teachers did not think consequences for problem behaviors were defined clearly over the last few years. 70 percent of teachers surveyed said they considered it a high priority to improve the definition of consequences during both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years. In 2016-17, that number rose even higher to 82 percent.
This past school year, teachers also showed concerns in the survey about the lack of options available that would allow them to keep teaching when problem behavior happened. Just 12 percent of those surveyed said options were in place in the school to allow "classroom instruction to continue when problem behavior occurs," documents showed.
Emails from the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year indicate behavioral problems existed outside the classroom, too. Teachers and coaches contacted administration letting them know about concerning behavior from Washington's 7th grade football team, as well as students at a volleyball game, according to emails.
Some of the behavior included football players "bothering" Jordy Nelson, who was attending the game.
"The district has been setting up Washington to fail year after year," said one 6th grade teacher in an email to fellow educators. "We've needed help for the past several years. Help from above, not below."
However, Green Bay schools could see improvements in discipline after a new behavioral response system was implemented Monday. The new chart will standardize punishment across the district, defining exactly how a student will be disciplined for certain offenses.
The district's new behavior response chart is below:
Changes Coming
After criticism from teachers, the district and Washington Middle School administration have discussed more changes to improve the quality of schooling next year, outlined in emails between administrators and teachers.
In an email to staff on June 2, Washington Middle School Principal Dennis Christensen wrote that an additional Associate Principal will be added for the 2017-2018 school year, allowing each grade level to have an Associate Principal and and Admin intern.
The school will also keep additional monitor hours to have extended support in the hallways during afternoon hours, Christensen said. The district also paid for specialized training for administrators this summer.
Finally, a major concern for Washington Middle School teachers was "internal subbing," or taking teachers away from planning periods to sub for other classes. To alleviate this, the district approved Washington Middle School to hire three full-time, certified teachers to serve as permanent subs, or help in other capacities.
"You have my assurance and our commitment that we will do whatever it takes to support Washington, making sure Washington Middle School is a safe and welcoming environment for ALL to learn and grow," Dr. Langenfeld wrote to Kerstin Westcott on June 6.
The district is also planning to work with community groups to help the situation at the school. Members of the Navarino Neighborhood Association have volunteered to help either in the school or in the community, according to emails.
Nonetheless, teachers are still skeptical that the changes will have an effect on the school's problems. Westcott returned to the Green Bay Board of Education meeting in July, saying she had "lost all hope" that the district was actually going to make changes after hearing its response to the problems in the school.
The district and school have held meetings with both teachers and parents, and said they will continue to address concerns.
WMS staff told school administrators that action is needed, not more talk, according to documents obtained by NBC 26 that summarize a July staff meeting. School staff also told administrators that they would like to see rules enforced regarding cell phones and the enforcement of rules from the beginning of the school year, among other ideas.
Green Bay schools open on September 5.
