La Crosse school board takes no action on resolution about citizen threats against boards

The La Crosse School Board decided Monday not to take action on a plan to withdraw from a national school board group.

The local board was asked this week to pass a resolution concerning the issue of alleged citizen harassment of school officials.

The proposal would have withheld funds from the La Crosse district to the National School Board Association, which had written to President Joe Biden about school threats but then rescinded its complaint.

When La Crosse School Board president Juan Jimenez got to that item on the board agenda Monday night, no one seconded the motion, so no vote was taken.

Board member Rob Abraham, who introduced the resolution, started to say, during the meeting debriefing, that he was “ashamed and embarrassed” that the board didn’t put the matter up for a vote, but was told that was not the time to express his opinions.

Jimenez reminded Abraham that portion of the meeting was “about our behavior as board members, not necessarily about how we acted, in terms of whether we decided to second a motion or not.”

Abraham continued, disappointed nobody else on the board seconded the resolution.

“The fact that we felt that discussion wasn’t even warranted speaks volumes,” Abraham told the board. “I certainly hope that the voters are paying attention this spring.”

Jimenez thanked Abraham for his comments and the board meeting moved on.

Three La Crosse School Board seats will be on the April ballot.

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards decided to withdraw from the national association, and the La Crosse resolution was in support of Wisconsin’s action.

The La Crosse school board has been the target of two recall drives since the mid-1970s, because of controversial actions.

In 1977, five board members were removed in a special election, for deciding not to rehire a controversial junior high school principal.

Fifteen years later, in 1992, voters ousted four school board members in a recall for enacting a busing plan to promote socio-economic balance among the La Crosse public schools.