Strife in PW-S School District spills into court

Acrimony in the ranks of the Port Washington-Saukville School District spilled into an Ozaukee County courtroom where on Monday a judge dismissed a top administrator’s petition for a restraining order against a teacher.

The petition was filed on Jan. 22 by Director of Teaching and Learning Tammy Thompson Kapp seeking a harassment injunction barring Kristin Balzer, a 16-year veteran of the district who is a learning strategist at Lincoln Elementary School, from having contact with her.

Thompson Kapp said that from late August through mid-November, when she filed a complaint with the Port Washington Police Department, she has been the victim of a series of harassing events that include  one phone call on Oct. 30 and three on Oct. 31.

Kapp, who said her relationship with Balzer is “tense” because of a decision she made to reassign her, accused Balzer of making the phone calls, adding she has filed a complaint against Balzer with the School District and an internal investigation is being conducted.

Balzer, however, testified she did not make the phone calls, adding that after returning to work from maternity leave she was reassigned before the beginning of this school year after being counseled by Thompson Kapp and Interim Supt. Mel Nettesheim on jobs best-suited for new mothers.

Given a choice between a district-level coordinator position and an elementary school teaching job, Balzer testified, Thompson Kapp and Nettesheim told her, “Certain jobs are better for moms.”

“Being told I’m now a mom and certain positions are easier for moms was quite surprising,” Balzer said.

In dismissing Thompson Kapp’s petition, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams said that she did not present “clear and convincing evidence” that the calls were made by Balzer and, lacking evidence that all the calls were made by the same person, that they constituted a pattern of harassment.

Three of the calls resulted in messages that were just static, Thompson Kapp said. But in the third message left on Oct. 31, which was 37 seconds long, the caller “just repeated f--- you over and over,” she testified.

Thompson Kapp said there was no caller ID associated with the calls, she did not recognize the voice and could not even determine whether it was male or female.

But a Port Washington Police Department investigation, which entailed a warrant for Thompson Kapp’s cell phone records, concluded the calls came from Balzer’s account, Thompson Kapp testified.

The Port Washington Police Department  last week denied an Ozaukee Press request for the report on Thompson Kapp’s complaint because the investigation is ongoing, but Capt. Craig Czarnecki confirmed that the phone calls were traced to an account that includes Balzer’s phone.

Balzer testified that the first she knew of the calls or the investigation is when she received a call from officer Taylor Russell on Jan. 14.

“My initial thought was that something had happened to a family member,” she said. “He (Russell) said my name came up in an investigation. I had no clue what he was speaking about.”

Balzer said her husband overheard the conversation and told her he would call the officer. Balzer said her husband and Russell spoke, but she doesn’t know what was said during the conversation.

During cross examination, Thompson Kapp asked Balzer, “So you didn’t think it was important to have your husband clarify what the conversation was about?”

Later, in response to a question from her attorney, Jada Davis, Balzer said, “Maybe he (her husband) knew more than I did. I knew absolutely nothing.”

When asked by her attorney to describe her relationship with Thompson Kapp, Balzer said she was on maternity leave when the May 15 deadlines for contract renewals came and went without her receiving an officer.

She said several messages she left for Thompson Kapp went unreturned. Balzer said she then joined the Port Washington Saukville Education Association and a union representative helped arrange a meeting between Balzer, Thompson Kapp and Nettesheim.

Balzer said she was told she was given the choice of two jobs — district coordinator of teaching and learning or an elementary school teaching position. Despite the advice she was given about the demands on new mothers, she chose the coordinator position and held it until being reassigned again on Aug. 15 to the learning strategist position she currently holds at Lincoln Elementary School.

Thompson Kapp said the reassignment was necessitated by the resignation of Dunwiddie Elementary School Principal Joanna Bannon about two weeks before the start of classes. Elyse Voskuil, who was the learning strategist at Lincoln, was tapped to become the Dunwiddie principal, leaving a vacancy at Lincoln.

Thompson Kapp said she met with Balzer on Oct. 30 to inform her the district had hired someone to fill her previous position.

She said she sensed Balzer wasn’t happy but “she took the news very gracefully.”

Thompson Kapp said she has been the victim of other forms of harassment, although she has no evidence Balzer is responsible for them.

She said she has received unsolicited deliveries of adult diapers to her home and office and emails advertising assisted living facilities and retirement homes.

“When it started happening, we thought it was funny, until it wasn’t funny any more,” Thompson Kapp said.

Then someone placed an ad on Craig’s List announcing she and her husband David Kapp, the School District’s director of operations, were moving. First the ad listed her personal phone number, then it was changed to list her work number, she said.

“The ad simply said we’re moving and we’re literally giving away everything we own,” Thompson Kapp said.

That resulted in a flood of phone calls, including some from “very angry individuals who asked why we would place an ad like that when we weren’t moving,” she said.

Thompson Kapp, who it was revealed Tuesday is on leave from her job until she retires on June 30 for reasons related to what Nettesheim said was an “on-going personnel matter,” said the harassment has caused her anxiety.

“I’m worried about what will happen next,” she said. “I simply did my job and angered someone to the point where I feel I’m being harassed.”