Crivitz parent and former school board member Sara Roman has asked Wisconsin State Sen. Mary Felzkowski and State Assembly Rep. Jeff Mursau to consider sponsoring legislation to make school boards more transparent.
The request was detailed in a June 18, 2025 story that appeared in The Peshtigo Times.
According to the story:
Roman’s requests to the lawmakers this month followed the school district attorney’s decision to deny her recent public records request. She asked the school district to release the results of a survey the girls basketball team completed at the school administration’s request.
“In our village, girls are suffering because of backroom politics,” Roman said in her request to the lawmakers for transparency legislation.
“Our school is in blatant violation of Title IX. Instead of dealing with the misconduct, the board has threatened to take away public input and [has] retaliated against whistleblowers,” Roman said in the article.
Roman would like to see public input periods guaranteed at school board meetings. She also advocated for public listening sessions where school board members could address the community’s concerns and questions.
Roman, who told the Times she plans to run for school board in April 2026, also has said she wants the Crivitz School Board to implement board training, training for coaches and anonymous surveys of student athletes for every sport.
Felzkowski’s office told Roman the senator couldn’t commit to introducing new legislation now, but said conversations about transparency are ongoing.
Roman said she also requested the school district release the responses from a survey the girls basketball team completed after the season was over. The school district’s attorney, Anthony Steffek at law firm Renning, Lewis & Lacy, denied this request and said, “The requested records constitute employee personnel records that the district is required to withhold pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 19.36(10)(d).”
Roman said the survey results have already been selectively revealed.
“According to multiple sources, the superintendent shared the ‘confidential’ survey responses with the coach who was the subject of the feedback. This direct disclosure not only compromised student anonymity but also created the very risk the district now cites as a reason to deny access,” Roman said in her correspondence.
She said Steffek’s denial of her request appears to be an effort to keep the matter quiet, despite public interest in it.
“You cannot selectively invoke confidentiality only when it serves to shield the district from public accountability,” Roman said, citing the legal case of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Hempel v. City of Baraboo, 2005 WI 120. “It emphasized that the balancing test must be applied in good faith. In this instance, where subjective survey responses were given to the person being evaluated, it is clear that confidentiality was not preserved for the protection of students, but rather undermined by the district’s own conduct.”
