The Lake Mills Leader Independent has filed an open records request in connection with a conflict of interest investigation involving Waterloo School Board members.
The investigation was detailed in a July 3, 2025 article in the Leader Independent. According to the article:
During a special meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes on June 24, the Waterloo School District Board of Education voted to send a conflict of interest and alleged retaliation issue to the district’s lawyers for investigation.
Because the matter involves School Board President Mathew Schneider, it went to Vice President Susan Quamme. Quamme said at the meeting that she felt she couldn’t be impartial in her review, so she suggested that the Board send the issue to legal counsel to do an investigation.
The Board then voted 5-1-1 to do that, with Sara Cummings abstaining and Schneider voting no.
The issues stem from the May 14 school board meeting, at which Cummings and Quamme brought up conflict of interest rules and code of ethics, which were topics at a Feb. 27 school law conference that both attended. The conference was held by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and the Wisconsin School Attorneys Association. Quamme said at the May 14 meeting that she thinks the issue is also related to two School District policies, 1130 and 4230, both titled Ethics and Conflict of Interest.
Schneider works for Cleary Building Corporation and his wife is a teacher in the district, and Cummings said both of these were part of her conflict-of-interest concerns. Cummings later submitted a complaint of retaliation in response to actions that allegedly occurred after the May 14 meeting.
The Leader Independent has submitted an open records request to the Waterloo School District seeking emails and other records relating to this complaint.
Before the June 24 vote, Schneider asked Superintendent Brian Henning about the potential cost for such an investigation. Henning said legal counsel was hesitant to give an estimate given the uncertainties about how much time would be needed. Henning gave $5,000 to $10,000 as a ballpark estimate, but said it could go higher.
The district will likely enlist Shana Lewis and Geoffrey Lacy of the law firm Renning, Lewis & Lacy for the investigation, Henning said, given the district has used them for other matters and that they were also present for a June 16 special closed session of the school board
Asked about the investigation after the June 24 meeting ended, Schneider referred questions to the district administration. Henning confirmed that the complaint was made in an email by Cummings against Schneider and “centered around conflict of interest.”
