Civil rights complaint update

CLINTONVILLE – Even though the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette allowed Clintonville Board of Education President Glen Drew Lundt to provide a statement explaining his side of a civil rights complaint filed against him, and the Tribune-Gazette printing his statement word-for-word, Lundt claimed in a post on Facebook, “It appears that only part of the story has been shared.”
The Facebook post appeared on the Waupaca County Post’s Facebook page, on the thread regarding the story about the civil rights complaint filed against Lundt. Lundt posted the post on Facebook the morning of Feb. 16.
The rest of his post is as follows: “My understanding is that Mr. Engel was inquiring about a space that had already been requested and approved for someone else. Given that there seemed to be some mixed information surrounding his request — which can easily happen when messages are passed along through multiple people — I wanted to ensure there was clarity and that no one’s previously approved rights would be unintentionally impacted.
“To avoid any misunderstandings and to make sure his needs could be properly addressed, I simply asked that his specific request be provided in writing or that we schedule a brief meeting to discuss it directly.
“To the best of my knowledge, there was never a denial of Mr. Engel’s request. Rather, the intent was to gather additional information so we could fully understand and accommodate his needs appropriately.”

While Lundt claimed in his Facebook post that the whole story was not shared, the Tribune-Gazette provided Lundt the opportunity to be interviewed for the original story about the civil rights complaint, or to provide a statement to explain his side of the story. Lundt sent a statement to the Tribune-Gazette explaining his side of the situation. As stated, the Tribune-Gazette printed his statement word-for-word. The only part of his statement that was not printed word-for-word was the email interaction on Jan. 27 between himself, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn, and complainant Michael Engel that Lundt provided with his statement. That was not included word-for-word, because it had already been included earlier in the story under the “Timeline” subhead.

More emails
Through Wisconsin public records law, the Tribune-Gazette filed an open records request for copies of email correspondence related to a special accommodation request submitted by Engel. The emails requested were between Kuhn, Lundt, Engel, and Board Vice President Kris Strauman.
As originally reported Engel made the initial request for special accommodation to Kuhn and Strauman on Jan. 16 via email. The original request stated, “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 please.”
In a Jan. 21 email from Strauman to Kuhn, in which Lundt was CC’d on, Strauman stated she forwarded Engel’s request for special accommodation to Lundt on Jan. 19. In the email, Strauman also indicated Kuhn had informed Lundt about Engel’s request on Jan. 16.

Lundt responded to Strauman’s email and CC’d Kuhn on Jan. 21. In the email Lundt stated, “Troy and I are working on finding a suitable solution to help Mr. Engel.”
Lundt also stated in that email, “Unfortunately Mr. Engel complicated the process by not going directly to the board President. In the future, please insist that all board matters go directly to the President, so we avoid situations like this.”
Of note, per the district, special accommodation requests are supposed to go to the district administrator, not the board president. Lundt, as president of the board, reads the following statement leading off each board meeting, “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.”
On Jan. 27, Engel sent an email to Kuhn informing him that he would be notifying the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division that his request for special accommodation was not honored at the Jan. 26 board meeting.
After Lundt emailed Engel on Jan. 27 regarding the Jan. 26 board meeting and requested a meeting with Engel, Engel replied two hours later and CC’d Kuhn. Engel stated in the email, “I will meet with Mr. Kuhn but I do not want to talk with Mr. Lundt or even be in the same room as him. Mr. Lundt has lied to me and lied to others so as far as I can see it. I think the US DOJ should figure it out now.”
Later that day Lundt sent an email to William Fischer, the attorney for the Clintonville School District, and CC’d Kuhn. In the email, Lundt stated, “Bill – I’m not sure how this gets resolved if he’s not willing to communicate with me. And now he’s threatening with the DOJ comment. Suggestions how to handle this?”
On Jan. 29, Lundt again emailed Fischer and CC’d Kuhn. In the email, Lundt stated, “I have not received any response from either of you on this. Please let me know how to proceed.”
Later that day, Fischer responded to Lundt’s email, stating, “Drew, Troy and I are going to touch base on this today, and will have further direction thereafter.”
The request for special accommodation was honored at the Feb. 9 board meeting with a table set up near a wall with a “reserved” sign on the table.

Complaint addition

On Jan. 27 Engel made the following addition to his original civil rights claim with the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
“Last night I attended another Clintonville Board of Education meeting as a person in attendance. Before the meeting started at or around 1800 hours, I went up and asked the Board President Mr. Lundt if he had received my request for reasonable accommodations for my hearing disabilities. Mr. Lundt then stated he had not received it. I know that’s a lie because the superintendent of the school district sent it to him and the Vice President of the Board sent it to him too. Then to find out the tables were moved across the room into an open area where the voices have nowhere to bounce off for my hearing aids, along with they were put somewhat behind some bookshelves which made it even harder for me to hear what was being discussed at the meeting. It is my right to be able to sit in during these meetings and be able to hear the discussion. Mr. Lundt is violating my rights as a paying taxpayer and as a parent with kids in the school district.”
The Tribune-Gazette was able to view video of the board room for a period of time prior to the Jan. 26 board meeting, as it had filed an open records request to view such video if it existed. As stated in the original story about the civil rights complaint, Kuhn stated he had set the room up for the board meeting, and had a table set up near a wall for Engel to sit at, but someone moved the table. According to the video, Lundt moved the tables around prior to the Jan. 26 meeting, including moving one of the tables to an area near bookshelves.