No disciplinary action recommended in Crivitz School District investigation

CRIVITZ – Following an investigation into allegations made against the Crivitz School District, no disciplinary action was recommended to be taken against principal Jeff Baumann, athletic director Jeff Dorschner and high school teacher/coach Brett Meyers.

Attorney Craig Kubiak of Amundsen Davis law firm in Appleton led the investigation and, in addition to not recommending any disciplinary action, disagreed with the characterization of a “sex culture” at the school district.
Kubiak said the term “sex culture” provides “a mistaken impression” of the school district.

According to the investigatory report, “There is no allegation that any teacher, administrator, coach or any other school employee had any inappropriate contact with a student.”

The report — which was given to the Peshtigo Times by Superintendent Kelly Robinson — considered information from interviews and parents’ emails to Robinson and School Board President Amy Grandaw, much of which had been described in public comments made before the school board.

“Specifically, there was an April 2025 email forwarded to both Kelly Robinson and Amy Grandaw [that] contained the vast majority, though not all, of the allegations,” the report said.

“The email was sufficiently detailed as to allow me to fully question those that I interviewed. I was able to confirm the contents of the email such that I did not need to re-interview any of the subjects,” Kubiak said.

Further explaining the process of the investigation, he wrote, “While the allegations were initially somewhat vague, I intentionally sought out all of the parents who brought claims and I am confident that I have included all claims, even if I was not able to speak with every parent who may have shared the concerns.”

“Over the course of my investigation, I traveled to Crivitz multiple times, conducted ten separate interviews, listened to one-party-consent taped conversations, read multiple stories from the Peshtigo Times, read email and text excerpts provided by witnesses and was given the authority to conduct whatever follow up I felt was necessary to arrive at the truth. The depth of the investigation allows a high degree of confidence in the outcome.”

Explaining the process from the district’s standpoint, Superintendent Robinson said, “During a school board meeting, a parent raised concerns regarding the athletics program. The same parent also requested that a third-party investigation be done to look into the concerns. The school board decided to hire an attorney to do that investigation. The administration as well as members of the staff who were accused of wrongdoing cooperated with the investigation. The results have been shared with the full board and were given to those who requested them. The district considers the matter closed.”

Damon Roman — a parent and husband of Sara Roman, a former board member who plans to run for the board again — said he was concerned board members would take note of the report’s lack of recommendations for improvements, and this would have “a chilling effect” on people’s willingness to speak up about issues by encouraging the status quo to continue.

In the report, Kubiak said, “At the end of each interview with a school-related witness, I tried to inform them that there will be no retaliation against anyone who brought a claim or their students.”

“We’re not going away until we reform the board and the board reforms the leadership at the school,” Damon Roman added.

Rebecca Zillges, another parent who read the report, said “Moving forward, we need to establish more effective and safer pathways for raising concerns so that everyone in the district feels protected and heard. I encourage the community to get involved and be informed.”

The report noted parents have suggested the school district should develop a reliable reporting system for complaints, but Kubiak offered few of his own recommendations, stating, “The difficulty in forming a recommendation stems from the fact that the alleged statements span many years and very few of them come from first-hand sources.”

The investigation and report did not recommend any punitive measures, but did provide some recommendations, such as: reaffirming not to retaliate against those who provide information or their children and reaffirming teachers and coaches should be careful about the words they use around students and athletes.