(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction announced Tuesday it has launched a new online database related to teacher licenses in response to an investigation of how DPI handled 200 cases of sexual misconduct and grooming between 2018 and 2023.
DPI Superintendent Jill Underly appeared in front of the Senate Committee on Education on Tuesday afternoon and for the start of an audit of the department’s license investigation process on Wednesday morning.
Underly called criticism of her department a “partisan sideshow.”
Underly did not attend an Assembly committee on the matter two weeks prior.
“We take every allegation of misconduct seriously and act whenever it occurs,” Underly said.
Underly said that the department lacks subpoena power in investigations and “even limited power” would help that process.
Underly’s prior response to an investigation of the matter from the Capital Times was demanding a correction on the story without pinpointing any factual errors in the story.
She pushed back against claims regarding the department’s investigations are hidden because the state does not say why a license is revoked in its online database and the state requires a public records request is placed – with no required timeline and subject to potential large fees – before an individual can receive information on an investigation.
“Our work is open and accountable,” Underly claimed. “Nothing is hidden.”
Underly went on to state that she and DPI support the state further defining grooming. A bill was introduced Monday to do that.
Underly previously claimed that “the statutory definition of ‘immoral conduct’ does not currently include grooming or professional boundary violations, limiting our agency’s ability to obtain critical pieces of information.”
But legislative leaders disagreed. The statutory definition of immoral conduct is “conduct or behavior that is contrary to commonly accepted moral or ethical standards and that endangers the health, safety, welfare, or education of any pupil.”
“I’m concerned that the state’s superintendent of schools is saying maybe they don’t fall under that standard,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, told News Talk 1130-WISN based on questions asked by The Center Square. “It’s very concerning and I’m hoping to get an answer on that tomorrow.”
