A civil rights complaint has been filed with the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division against Clintonville School Board President Glen Drew Lundt by district resident Michael Engel, who claims his civil rights were violated when the district failed to grant a special accommodation for him due to his hearing disability.
A story about the complaint appeared in the Feb. 12, 2026 issue of the Stevens Point Gazette. According to the story:
On Jan. 16, Engel emailed the following request to sit in a specific spot at school board meetings, to Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn and Clintonville School Board Vice President Kris Strauman: “Due to my hearing disability I am requesting the spot I normally sit in to be open for me. I have hearing aids and with the wall behind me I can hear so much better. If you could please have that spot available for me to sit in please.”
Engel claimed that Strauman called him on Jan. 19 and explained to him over the phone “what was going on” regarding the request. It was on that day that Engel filed the complaint with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. In the complaint, Engel stated, “I was notified tonight at around 1930 on January 19, 2026 that the president of the board of education would not honor my disability request because I did not send it to him.”
Engel also stated in the complaint, “I don’t feel safe emailing Mr. Lundt because of past experiences with and that is why I emailed the vice president of the board and the superintendent of the school.”
When asked about the civil rights complaint, Kuhn provided the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette with the following statement:
“The Vice President and I received the request for special seating on Jan. 16 for the Jan. 26 meeting, we both forwarded this to the Board President. I spoke with the individual and stated that the BOE president and Vice President were aware of your request. Since becoming Superintendent, it has been my job to set up the Board room. I once again put the table and chairs in their normal spots. I instructed the person with the accommodation to sit in his normal seat against the wall, just as he requested. I continued to set up the room and then I went into a neighboring room for a separate meeting. When I came out of that meeting, there apparently was some confusion, as I noticed that the tables and chairs were moved, and people were in different seats. The requestor was not sitting against the wall as he requested, someone else was. There was certainly no intent to unreasonably deny the requested accommodation. After the meeting I apologized to the individual and stated that I will guarantee at future meetings you will get your seat next to the wall as you requested.”
The Clintonville Tribune-Gazette has been in contact with a resident of the district who was present at the Jan. 26 meeting. This resident claimed they were going to move one of the tables up against the wall so Engel could sit there, but a teacher from the district who was at the meeting told the resident they better not move the table because Lundt had moved it away from the wall.
The Tribune-Gazette contacted Lundt for comment about the complaint and received the following statement: “Mr. Kuhn and Ms. Straumann had been in contact with Mr. Engel regarding his special needs request for our meetings. I asked them each to have Mr. Engel contact me directly so I know what he’s asking and can make acceptable arrangements. He refused to communicate or meet with me. At our January 26th meetings, he approached me and asked if I was going to meet his requests. I explained that I was unsure of what he is asking for so we would need to meet to figure out a solution. He said ‘that’s a no then?!’ And I repeated my previous statement that we need to discuss what he’s requesting. He seemed frustrated when he stated ‘well I guess you can deal with the lawyers then’.”
In an interview with the Tribune-Gazette, Engel, who is a military veteran, said his hearing loss is due to his military service and he wears hearing aids in each ear.
“I need to sit next to a wall where the voices can reverberate off the wall and hit my hearing aids better,” Engel said.
He added that his hearing disability is documented with the Department of Defense and he is treated for it through Veterans Affairs (VA).
Engel said he followed the proper procedure when making the request for a special accommodation. He said at the beginning of every board meeting, Lundt, as president of the board, reads the following statement, “Upon request to the District Administrator, submitted 24 hours in advance, the District shall make reasonable accommodation including the provision of informational material in an alternative format for a disabled person to attend this meeting.”
The special accommodation request was honored at the Feb. 9 board meeting. The Tribune-Gazette has reviewed district policy documents on the district’s website and could not find anywhere in the policies that state the school board president needs to approve special accommodation requests. It is also not listed in the document containing the duties of the board president.
To help verify who moved the tables that Kuhn had set up in the board room, the Tribune-Gazette has filed an open records request with the district to view any recorded videos of the board room from Jan. 26 prior to the board meeting.
An open records request has also been submitted to the district for copies of all emails sent between Kuhn, Strauman, and Lundt regarding the request for a special accommodation from Engel.
