(The Center Square) – An audit of how Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction handles grooming and sexual misconduct cases involving teachers will be completed in the coming weeks, according to Sen. Eric Limburger, R-Gillett.
Wimberger said that the results are even more important after a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed alleging that three Oconto Falls students were sexually groomed and abused by teachers in what lawyers called a pattern of abusive actions.
“This lawsuit again highlights the need for the results of our statewide audit of how the Department of Public Instruction handles grooming and sexual misconduct allegations,” Limburger said in a statement. “I look forward to the audit report’s release in the coming weeks to provide transparency regarding Wisconsin’s education leaders’ highest responsibility: ensuring our children are safe at school.”
The Oconto Falls lawsuit accused the school board of ignoring the issue for years, claiming that at least nine teachers or staff members were involved in sexual abuse, grooming, harassment or severe misconduct with at least 14 students between 2005 and 2025.
“They were abused by teachers and coaches under circumstances created by the Board through its pervasive custom and policy of knowing about teacher-student sexual abuse and failing to act,” the lawsuit said. “While Plaintiffs were aware of their abuse, they had no knowledge, and no reason to know, of the Board’s unwritten policies, customs, and practices tolerating sexual abuse and grooming across many teachers and students, and the Board’s deliberate indifference to such conduct until Fall 2025, when they learned of the full scope of teacher-student sexual abuse at Oconto Falls High School and the Board’s decades-long pattern of ignoring it.”
Wimberger and the Joint Legislative Audit Committee ordered an examination of how DPI handles teacher abuse cases in November following reports from the Capital Times detailing how DPI handles and hid 200 cases of sexual misconduct.
“All sexual abuse allegations deserve serious investigation by our justice system,” Limburger said. “Students in our community should feel safe when they walk the halls of our schools – and especially safe from predators who disguise themselves as someone their victims know and trust.”
