Civil rights complaint filed

CLINTONVILLE – 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.

Timeline
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 United States Department of Justice 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.”

On Jan. 21, Engel emailed the following to Kuhn, “Should I get legal counsel to proceed with against Mr. Lundt?”
Kuhn replied back via email seven minutes later, stating, “Things need to slow down. We haven’t even had a BOE meeting to determine your needs for seating. Drew (Lundt) and I did discuss your request.”
Three hours later, Kuhn replied back to Engel via email and stated, “We have no problems accommodating you in a reasonable manner. Would you be willing to meet with Drew and I to clearly understand your request?”
The special accommodation was supposed to be available for the Jan. 26 board meeting, but Engel said when he arrived at the meeting, there were no tables set up against the wall for him to sit at, as he requested. Engel said he talked to Lundt between the special board meeting and the regular board meeting and asked why his request was not honored.
Lundt sent the following email to Engel the next day, Jan. 27. The email stated, “Michael - you surprised me and seemed very upset when you came up to talk to me between meetings last night. Checking my emails, I still have not received anything directly from you requesting special accommodations; when did you email me? (*I see that there are some forwarded emails from others…I replied to them to have you reach out so we can meet and figure out what’s going on and how to help). Unfortunately I cannot help if I don’t know what’s needed.
“Troy Kuhn and I are happy to meet with you to see how we can help. Would tomorrow morning work? Troy, will that work for you? Otherwise, Michael, please let us know when you’re available so we can meet and help you.”
Engel replied to that email stating that he would meet with Kuhn, but not with Lundt.
On Jan. 29, Engel received a message from the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division stating that his complaint had been reviewed and was being referred to the U.S. Department of Education Department of Civil Rights.
On Jan. 30, Kuhn sent a letter to Engel regarding the special accommodation for board meetings. In the letter, Kuhn stated, “Upon receipt of this request, phone and email conversations were made between myself, the Vice President, and the President of the Clintonville School Board of Education. It was discussed multiple times on what the actual request was, and I communicated to you that pursuant to the District’s usual procedures, you needed to discuss the exact request with Mr. Drew Lundt, BOE president, before the next meeting and, due to confusion as to what exactly was being requested, the potential conflict between your request and another, unrelated request that preceded yours, and the late start to the next meeting, your exact request was not granted for the January 26, 2026 BOE meeting.
It was also stated in the letter that Engel’s request for special accommodation due to his hearing disability would be honored at future meetings and will be designated with a “reserved” sign on the table.
Kuhn also stated in the letter, “The District strives to meet any such requests in good faith, and it was certainly not the District’s intent to impinge on your ability to access the January 26, 2026 meeting in a meaningful way. We do apologize for any confusion and/or miscommunication relating to your request, and I appreciate your willingness to work with us to resolve this situation.”

Tables moved
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 January 16 for the January 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.

Lundt statement

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.’”
Lundt acknowledged that he sent an email to Engel and Kuhn the next day regarding the matter.
Lundt’s statement continued, “Mr. Kuhn and our district attorney aware of this and I believe there’s an acceptable solution worked out with Mr. Engel. It’s unfortunate that Mr. Engel hasn’t been willing to talk with me. Clear communication and correct information is so important. Having others come to me for his request leaves a lot of room for error. As a board member, I have always been willing to communicate with others regarding anything with our district; that hasn’t changed and still includes Mr. Engel.

Engel interview
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 twenty-four (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.”
Engel said his request was made 10 days prior to the next board meeting, a considerable amount of more time than the required 24 hours. He also said the request was sent to the district administrator, as requested in the opening statement read at each board meeting.
Regarding not wanting to meet in-person with Lundt to discuss the request, Engel said the reason for that decision was due to his past experiences with Lundt.
“I don’t hold the district accountable for his (Lundt) actions,” Engel said. “I have no ill fate towards the district whatsoever. I love the district. I just believe that when mistakes are made, the person that made the mistake should be held accountable and not try to pawn it off on somebody else.”

Additional info
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.