Washington Middle School parents voice concerns ahead of vote for more outside help

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WLUK) -- There are new, yet familiar, concerns being raised about Green Bay's Washington Middle School.

The issues are being raised one month ahead of a vote to spend more money on an outside firm charged with turning around the school.

The Green Bay Area Public School District has put extra focus on Washington since June 2017, when a teacher outlined unsafe conditions at the school, during her resignation to the school board.

The type of behavior administrators have been trying to eliminate at Washington Middle School the past two years is still going on, according to Samantha Craw, the parent of a sixth grade student.

“He didn't want to come tonight, so he could not be labeled as the rat,” Craw said to the district’s school board on June 17.

Craw says her son wants to learn, but is struggling because poor behavior is allowed in the classroom without consequences. She shared a handful of specific incidents.

“There was a girl with a scissors threatening to stab a classmate in shop class,” said Craw. “There was a child in his six-week art class, so about once a week this happened, that would use a chair as a weapon towards other students or adults in the room.”

Craw says her son told her it took office personnel as long as 20 minutes to respond to some of the violent incidents.

“Did you know that students will actually say, 'get me some food, (profanity)' to those serving and there is no consequence? What are we teaching here?” questioned Craw.

“Obviously, we've been working hard, clearly it isn't enough yet,” Green Bay Area Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Langenfeld said to Craw on June 17. “We don't expect change that quickly, but to work in partnership really matters to us.”

In February of last year, the district held a news conference to state behavior problems were on the right track and a third-party firm would be brought in to focus on academic improvement at Washington.

American Institute of Research, or AIR, was paid $394,000 to help turn around Washington last school year. The school board will vote on July 15 whether it should pay AIR $286,000 for more services next school year.

“Over and over again this year, I have reached out to staff, to teachers, to administration and asked for intervention to be put in place,” said Washington parent Melody Linsmeyer to the school board on June 17.

Linsmeyer indicated to the school board her son's behavior could interfere with others' ability to learn. She says it took months for school officials to complete a comprehensive evaluation that she requested for her son.

“Over and over again my son is having behavioral issues that I am not being informed about and then I go to parent-teacher conferences thinking no news is good news and my son must be doing better, but he is not behaving,” said Linsmeyer.

“Communication is key. Parent involvement is key and I think there is opportunity to improve, but I also have some questions about how that process didn't meet your son's needs, so I appreciate hearing about that a little more and we'll follow up on that as well,” Langenfeld said to Linsmeyer in the June 17 meeting.

A district spokesperson tells FOX 11 both parents have been working with district officials since bringing their concerns to the school board a week ago.

The district has said test scores have gone up since AIR was hired. It also says the number of out-of-school suspensions has declined.

A full report on what AIR has accomplished is expected to be released next month before the school board votes on another year of service.