Sun Prairie officials cite investigation gaps and missed evaluations in personnel monitoring report

Nick Rykoff, assistant superintendent of operations for the Sun Prairie Area School District, told the school board that the district's monitoring review of Operational Expectation 4 (Personnel Administration) found 31 of 35 measures compliant but identified four noncompliant measures that warrant further action.

Rykoff said the 2024-25 school year was "a year of hardship in the district related to personnel," citing multiple incidents that led to leadership changes and community concern. "We had a staff member arrested for serious crimes," he said, and added that incidents at East and West High Schools contributed to the district's review of personnel administration.

The report, now in its second year since revisions to OE4 in March 2024, separates compliance-focused measures (which remain in the operational expectation) from progress-based metrics moved into operational results policies. Rykoff said administrators judged 31 measures compliant and four noncompliant. He identified one noncompliant area as the district's requirement that "100% of formal complaints and grievances are resolved and handled according to district policy," and said a third-party review found that concerns had not been adequately investigated.

Citing an independent report by attorney Sam Hall of Carvelo, Nichols & Hall, Rykoff said the review "did not find fault with the systems that we set up to be compliant" but concluded those systems "weren't utilized, in the way that we intended," which he said led to harm for students, staff and the community. Rykoff said administration has started corrective steps, including retraining staff on mandatory reporting and bringing in Elephant Alliance to train staff to recognize grooming behaviors and take action.

Rykoff also detailed three noncompliant measures related to employee evaluations across groups: professional educators/certified staff, administrative support staff and support staff. He said a small number of full evaluations were not completed in 2024-25 and described operational fixes: targeted training for supervisors, expanded use of Frontline (the district's HR management system) to track evaluations, and an HR support structure to assist evaluators. He clarified that when an evaluation is missed, an employee's three-year cycle is not reset; instead, the full evaluation summary is moved into the next school year to address the missed timeline.

Beyond the noncompliance items, Rykoff outlined measures the district judged compliant and ongoing improvements: job fairs and targeted recruitment to better match staff demographics with students, aligned professional development, salary studies to remain regionally competitive, expanded feedback systems, grow-your-own certification pathways and a new "kick start" onboarding program for support staff.

Given the noncompliant findings, Rykoff said the administration does not recommend certifying the OE4 monitoring report. "The administration does not feel that certification of the report is appropriate," he said, and left the question of certification to the school board at its Feb. 9 meeting. He said the district will continue to enact recommendations from the external report and monitoring review over the coming months.

The board is scheduled to consider the OE4 monitoring report on Feb. 9, 2026; Rykoff said the administration will continue to report on implementation as the district moves into 2025-26 monitoring.