Parents, athletes, coach provide comments at Crivitz School Board meeting

CRIVITZ – Randall Copiskey, head coach of Crivitz School District’s trap-shooting team, brought some good news to the public-input period at the June 18 Crivitz School Board meeting when he shared how far the team has come in four short seasons.

The team, launched in spring 2022, completed its fourth season this spring with a conference championship, he said. About 25 students were rostered. Volunteers practiced three times per week for over 100 hours, he said. “I call them century men,” he said.

The team raised $26,000 to pay for the season. Next, Copiskey said he hoped to travel with team players to a national tournament in July. Later in the meeting, the school board approved Copiskey’s request to travel with 11 students to the tournament in Mason, Mich., using two school vans.

Parent Damon Roman, who spoke twice during the public-input period, congratulated the Crivitz track teams on completing a successful season and acknowledged the coaches’ outstanding communication with parents throughout the season. “I’m thankful several of my children had the privilege to play with them,” he said.

Roman and Copiskey were two of nine people who spoke during the public comment period at the meeting. The commentators included two students, four parents, two residents and one coach.

The athletes, whose names are being withheld as they are students, described their basketball season and disappointment over the way the school district breached its promise to keep their survey responses confidential and instead gave them to the coach some complained about who is using them for “personal reflection,” one student athlete said.

“There’s a select group of us who were isolated, constantly yelled at, compared to others, belittled and were clearly upset during practice.

To remedy the problem, me and another teammate were told we were ‘uncoachable’ and had to figure out our personal problems,” the female basketball player said in describing how the season went.

After consulting with teammates, the student said the athletes preferred to share their survey responses with the school board instead of their coaches and teachers.

The post-season survey asked athletes to respond to questions such as, “What is your coach good at?” “What is one thing the coach could improve on?” and “Is there favoritism towards one player on the team?” Favoritism was “always” an issue on the team, the athlete said.

One student said she feared retaliation on the team and in school for speaking freely. She would like the coach to keep it positive so players “don’t leave the court crying, frustrated and overwhelmed,” she said.

Another student athlete spoke during the public comment period and said, “Many of us were unaware and uncomfortable with the surveys being shared with the coach.”

“Basketball has changed for a majority of us, not because we’ve lost interest in the sport, but because we’re not comfortable being belittled. The constant screaming at us led to tears and a desire to quit. A total of four girls attended our summer camp. Last year a whole varsity team was there.”

In addressing the students who spoke, Damon Roman said, “We do hear you; you are not alone. The government reacts slowly and it is always worth your time.”

In addressing board members, Roman said he was concerned the district could be in violation of Title IX because of the “significant number of parents and students that have come forward and expressed concerns about unequal treatment and retaliation. In light of this, I urge the board to take emergency action and immediately address these concerns by implementing a reliable reporting system, providing mandatory SafeSport training for employees and coaches.”

Parent Rebecca Zillges addressed the board and said she was “completely disgusted” that the SafeSport training she recommended previously hasn’t been put on the agenda.

“It seems like everyone was in support of it. I heard it was talked about in closed session, but not once on the agenda,” she said. “I do not understand. I don’t think you guys realize the courage it took and how hard it was for these girls to stand up in front of you and everyone in this room and tell you their true feelings about what happened last season in basketball through their eyes. They thought the adults were here to help them, to protect them.”

She added that implementing the program would “make sure they never, ever have to go through this again. So I ask you to please put it on the agenda.”

Parent Sara Roman, a former school board member, said, “I am concerned about the unequal access to sports opportunities for our female athletes as well as the lack of acceptable resolutions to concerns without fear of retaliation.”

Roman said her family has experienced retaliatory treatment and said she was frustrated by statements suggesting parents haven’t followed the chain of command in making complaints. “In reality, parents have submitted formal complaints for many years which have been consistently ignored.”

Parent Justin Pusick provided three separate comments during the public input period and related how a district administrator encouraged use of the school district’s chain of command process for complaints in a comment published in a Peshtigo Times article April 30.

“However, if you rewind approximately two months before this, on March 26 of this year, this same administrator directly participated in hand delivering a complaint to me about potentially disseminating information of a fellow employee and thereby putting me under investigation,” Pusick said. “So, my question to the administrator is how do you decide when it’s ok to break your own district protocol and favor certain employees?”

Pusick also provided comments about a school district investigation under way. “From what I was told by a board member, the investigation is in regards to the sex culture,” he said.

“But, upon further review, the investigation was set up without the consent of the school board, and without a single vote of any board member. Who set it up? The board of education is here for a reason, to make decisions such as these.”

Pusick said the school district hired Admendson Davis Law Firm to conduct the independent investigation. “Our current school legal counsel worked for Admendson Davis law firm up until approximately one year ago,” he said. (This information hasn’t been able to be verified by the Peshtigo Times.)

Pusick continued, “I am told by a board member that the school board has many options available to them in their handbook for properly setting up independent investigations…What’s going on here exactly? Why does our leadership have such an issue with providing transparency?”

Pete Pfankuch, who described himself as a resident and voter, said, “I am here because of a public records request that’s been denied. I had my attorneys look at it. You best honor the request because this is going to get ugly.”

A woman whom the school district identified as Bonnie Beamer said, “It really bothers me to see the paper and all this negative going on. Yes, we have an excellent school, excellent teachers, excellent students. I would like to see some positive things in the paper and not negative stuff. Yes, we have an issue that needs to be resolved. I’m not involved in it. I don’t know. I would like you folks to be more positive. You as a board should authorize the information going into the paper.”

The Crivitz Board of Education is not able to reply to statements made or opinions given during the public comment period.