× Expand Carolyn Fath Ashby

The mother of a Leopold Elementary student assumed the worst when her fifth grader called to tell her Principal Peg Keeler had hit her in the face on the playground. The mother — and at least two other relatives of the girl — arrived at the school minutes later believing the child had been assaulted by an educator.

“Where is the fucking principal? I’m gonna beat her white ass,” said the mother of the student outside Keeler’s office, according to the 32-page police report obtained by Isthmus. The names of the student and her relatives are redacted. Officers report the mother yelling, “If [Keeler isn’t] taken outta here in handcuffs, there’s gonna be a problem” and “that bitch put her hands on my daughter.”

According to Sgt. Shannon Blackamore’s report, he heard the mother and uncle — on multiple occasions — threaten “to do physical harm to Principal Keeler.”

Blackamore, a former school resource officer, said “the level of screaming and profanity used was extremely disruptive.” He heard the uncle say he “was going to take matters into his own hands.” He repeatedly insisted that his niece “had been assaulted by the school principal” and “that bitch needs to go to jail.” Officers on the scene — five responded to the call — also heard the uncle say, “this shit doesn’t happen in white schools” and “something to the effect that he would kill law enforcement officers as well.”

Another officer, who is black, noted that the mother was so incensed by Keeler’s alleged assault, that she called him “an Uncle Tom” with “a white dick in [his] mouth.”

But the Leopold student was not telling the truth. The alleged assault was caught on video surveillance. Blackamore, after viewing the footage, concluded that “there was nothing that appeared to be any intentional striking or harm done to [the student].” The mother of the student eventually told the police “several times how deeply she regretted her actions and apologized for her behavior.”

This incident, the latest in a series of racially charged conflicts in Madison’s schools, is another example of how much mistrust exists between parents and the school district. District Spokesperson Rachel Strauch-Nelson urged Isthmus not to publicize the episode, saying it would prevent healing between the family and the staff at Leopold, and reinforce negative stereotypes.

School board member TJ Mertz, who lost his re-election bid on April 2, didn’t know the details of the Leopold incident. But he says, generally, trust between families and the schools is “greatly strained” and teachers don’t feel like they are supported by administrators when children act out.

“There is damage that is done just by an accusation. The accusation damages reputations. It causes stress for people who are already stressed,” Mertz tells Isthmus. “If the accusations are real, then yeah, all of that is deserved. But when things aren’t so cut and dried, there is a sense from staff that no one has their back.”

This has created an environment where teachers and other educators are afraid of how their actions will be perceived, rather than being judged by what actually occurred.

“It’s not just Leopold, it’s all over the district. It makes it very difficult for people to work together for the best of the kids,” says Mertz. “There is a lot of fear among our staff of something like this happening.”

However, in a statement provided to Isthmus, Keeler says it’s important to have “trusting relationships with all of our families and students.”

“We're committed to working proactively to have those strong relationships with our families so that if there is ever a conflict of any kind, we can come together and resolve it in a way that restores relationships in our community, and puts our students at the center,” writes Keeler. “Every student and family should feel welcome, safe, and supported, and like they belong in our school community.”

Rob Mueller-Owens is one former longtime Madison school teacher who feels the school district did not have his back. The dean of students at Whitehorse Middle School and a positive behavior coach resigned on March 15 — the same day as the incident at Leopold — over a conflict with an 11-year-old on Feb. 13. He told The Capital Times the district did not treat him fairly and “never heard my side of the story.”

Mueller-Owens, who had worked for the district for 30 years, had been accused by the mother of the 11-year-old of “throwing her daughter to the ground and punching her.” She also said three of her daughter’s braids were “pulled out of her scalp.”

About 100 people protested at the Feb. 26 Madison school board meeting over the Whitehorse incident and the ongoing debate over whether to assign cops permanent positions in high schools. Activist Brandi Grayson, according to The Daily Cardinal, said the school board functions “as a tool to further white supremacy.”

“Somehow y’all forget the destruction and violation to children's bodies that’s taking place under your watch, and because it’s under your watch you’re accountable,” Grayson said while testifying at the meeting. “Enough is enough.”

In a Feb. 28 open letter, Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham called the Whitehorse incident “especially horrific.” Mueller-Owens agreed to resign in exchange for benefits and salary through the rest of the year.

Police investigated the Whitehorse incident, producing a 78-page report that included interviews with more than a dozen witnesses and video surveillance. At a March 5 news conference, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne announced that he would not file criminal charges against Mueller-Owens. He also said some of the public narrative about the Whitehorse incident was “based on incorrect information and assumptions.”

Other incidents have fueled mistrust. Just this school year, the district has removed two substitutes from the classroom for using racial slurs. Also, in November, a teacher at Hamilton Middle School resigned after repeating back the n-word to a student. A teacher at Jefferson Middle School resigned after using the slur in an email to parents in December. Madison Teachers Inc. — which declined a request for comment — advised its members in a newsletter last month to never use the slur and noted “the district has taken a zero tolerance approach whenever the n-word has been said in the presence of students.” The newsletter also notes that the union “is not aware of any circumstance in which staff have directed the word at students with derogatory intent.”

The March 15 episode at Leopold Elementary occurred around 1 p.m. According to the police report, Keeler said the student was having a “tough day” and was supposed to be in her office doing a math worksheet. Instead, the student went outside to play. Keeler found the student playing tetherball on the playground; the principal says the student refused to come inside. Keeler called for assistance from Lori Lopez, the dean of students. At one point, Keeler attempted to stop the tetherball from striking herself and the student. Keeler told police she “was trying to stop the ball,” and that her hand might have brushed across the student’s face.

When Lopez arrived, all three went back to Keeler’s office, where the student asked to call her mother. Over the phone, the student told her mother that Keeler “hit her in the face” and “these people have been in my face all day.” The mother, on speaker phone, “started yelling at Keeler things like, ‘I’m gonna come to the school and beat your ass.’” Keeler hung up the phone and called the police.

The student’s family arrived at the school before Keeler was off the phone with dispatch. When police arrived around 1:20 p.m., they found the girl’s family in the school lobby angrily confronting staff, who were keeping them out of Keeler’s office.

While talking to police, Keeler was “visibly upset and shaken up.” She told an officer that she was “really disturbed” and she “felt that she would be harmed.” Blackamore wrote in his report that he believed “if there had been an opportunity for [the student’s family] to physically see Principal Keeler, a physical encounter would have taken place.”

The mother allowed Detective Paul Bauman to interview her daughter while in her presence. A family member — it isn’t clear who from the report because of redactions — interrupted the interview to give “a long impassioned narrative about her dislike for Leopold School, the staff and the Madison school district.” The family member also talked about meeting the governor in two days and “the injustices faced by the African American community.”

After getting the student’s side of the story and hearing concerns from the family, Bauman explained that video surveillance showed Keeler “reaching up to stop the ball and not trying to hit” the girl. He also told the mother that once other children were blurred out of the video, it would be made available to the family. The mother accepted Bauman’s conclusion, telling her daughter, “this man has no reason to lie.” She also expressed remorse for her behavior offering her “deepest apologies” to Keeler and acknowledging that the principal must have been “terrified by her behavior.”

Officers at the scene initially thought disorderly conduct charges against the student’s mother and uncle were warranted. Blackamore wrote that Keeler was “torn on how to proceed” and “worried that she would be blamed in particular for any enforcement action.”

Police Chief Mike Koval tells Isthmus that after conferring with Keeler and the district, police decided not to arrest or cite anyone.

“Some have asked why there were no citations issued or arrests made in the Leopold case,” Koval writes in an email. “There was a stated preference to move forward using this situation as a teachable moment and an opportunity to model restorative justice philosophies.”

[This article has been edited to reflect that Sgt. Shannon Blackamore is a man.]