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Waukesha board rescinds student-complaint policy after debate; 8-1 vote
Summary
The board voted 8-1 on Feb. 13 to rescind Policy 57-10 (Student Complaints), with objections from one member who said the policy served as a student-facing reference. The board said related procedures are covered in the online student handbook and in Policy 91-30.
The School District of Waukesha Board of Education voted 8-1 on Thursday to rescind Policy 57-10, the board’s student-complaint policy, after a lengthy discussion about whether removing the separate policy would remove a useful, student-friendly reference.
Policy 57-10 had been recommended for rescission by the Student Services Committee on the grounds that the policy duplicates other procedures and that Policy 91-30 (Public Requests, Suggestions or Complaints) provides a comprehensive path for complaints that are not covered by a more specific policy. The committee vote was 4-1; the board then moved to rescind the policy at the full meeting. The motion passed on a roll-call vote of 8-1; Board member Diane Voigt voted no.
Voigt said she valued Policy 57-10 as ‘‘a good student reference, for what the procedures are, the due process rights that they have’’ and that the policy had been written to present students with a single, accessible place to find complaint procedures. Several other board members and staff argued the student handbook — which is published online, the board noted — already contains the student-facing procedural guidance and that Policy 91-30 and the specific statutory-based policies (nondiscrimination, harassment, ADA, etc.) are the authoritative sources.
Board members said that if rescinding 57-10 left gaps in student-facing materials, the language can be incorporated into Policy 91-30 or the student handbook. One board member noted the district’s student handbook is delivered primarily online, making updates possible without printing new hard copies.
The board did not rescind related Policy 56-11 (Due Process Rights) at the meeting; that policy was discussed in committee and the committee chair recommended it be returned to committee for further review.
Roll-call on the rescission of Policy 57-10: Betty Koenig, Mark Borowski, Keri Kozlowski, Eric Brooks, David Wadd, Anthony Zenobia, Thomas Harland and Kelly Piasik voted aye; Diane Voigt voted no.
