Brad and Nicholas Schlaikowski have demanded accountability from Wauwatosa school officials since an Oct. 22 incident at the end of the school day outside Whitman Middle School. They say their 13-year-old daughter was attacked by another student, and that the student's parents participated in the attack.
The Schlaikowskis have raised the issue to local news outlets and on social media for more than two weeks, and they publicly confronted administrators and the Wauwatosa School Board during the public comment portion of the board's Oct. 26 meeting.
"We asked basic questions about supervision responsibility and could not get straight answers, but smug condescending smiles were abundant from the principal," Brad Schlaikowski told the School Board. "Our daughter was attacked on your watch. You don't get to dictate the terms of accountability."
The district has said little publicly about the incident, though on Nov. 6, Whitman Principal Shawnda Holland sent a memo to families by email aimed at "clarifying school & law enforcement roles."
"The school’s primary responsibility is the safety, well-being, and education of our students while they are in our care and on school property or participating in school-sponsored activities," Holland wrote. "When incidents occur during school hours, on school property, or at school-sponsored events, the school has a responsibility to investigate and address matters that impact student safety or the learning environment."
Holland's email did not address the Oct. 22 incident directly, though it spoke more generally about how the school responds to conflicts between students and those involving adults. "When conflicts occur outside of school hours and away from school property, particularly when they involve conflicts between adults, the school’s ability and authority to intervene are limited," Holland said.
"Incidents involving alleged threats, harassment, intimidation, physical altercations, or other potential violations of the law should be appropriately reported to law enforcement. Law enforcement has the authority and training to investigate off-campus incidents and determine if laws have been violated."