FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — “I just felt dumb, stupid, pushed away. I wasn't, like, worth helping.”
That’s how one teacher describes her experience with the Fond du Lac School District.
“When I continued to speak up about it, it was just continuous being reprimanded, being told that I'm the one who needs to figure it out,” the teacher said.
She and several others said they're upset with the school district administration.
This teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said when she asked for help, she faced retaliation.
“I was put on a leave of absence,” she said. “And I knew that I was ripped away from families and students that I worked with [for] over a year.”
After she was put on a leave of absence, some parents asked the school to bring her back, but she was transferred to a different school in the district.
She said she is planning to leave the district after this year.
Another teacher, who also wished to remain anonymous, said she faced a similar situation with Superintendent Jeffrey Fleig.
"I disagreed with him, very professionally. And after that, I did nothing right in this school district,” the second teacher said.
The second teacher said she was put on administrative leave without explanation.
She later found out there was a miscommunication about what language a child should be speaking in her class, but she says the school district did not provide notes on the investigation.
“They came back two weeks later saying you can be terminated or you can sign this separation agreement,” that teacher said.
She signed the agreement to leave.
"I poured my heart and soul into this district for 25 years,” she said.
Former teacher Sue Heitzman said she experienced a similar situation.
"I was late coming back from my lunch…. and I explained… and suddenly I went on paid administrative leave,” Heitzman said.
After being on paid administrative leave, she retired early —after almost 30 years in the classroom.
Dozens of local teachers even began a Facebook group to discuss their concerns about the district culture. The group currently has 65 members.
An open records request shows the number of teachers either retiring or resigning has risen over the last few years.
There were two recent spikes. Exactly what caused those spikes is not known. But, the first spike occurred after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and then another after Superintendent Fleig started at the district in 2021.
Most of the '21-'22 spike was because of resignations. In fact, retirements actually went down -- from 23 to 12. Resignations jumped from 39 to 61.
In the 10 school years before '21-'22, teacher resignations averaged about 31 per year.
NBC 26 reached out to the school and Superintendent Fleig for comment. The school district told us that Superintendent Fleig would rather talk about this next week. Next week marks the end of the school year.
We will keep you updated after we speak with him.
