MENOMONEE FALLS — With back to school just days away, parents in Menomonee Falls are raising concerns about two policies the school board voted to keep in place while adopting a slate of new ones.
At its Aug. 11 meeting, the board gave preliminary approval to dozens of new NEOLA policies.
NEOLA drafts model school policies and updates them for legal compliance. The organization says its frameworks are used by many districts in Wisconsin and across the country.
Watch: Menomonee Falls mom raises concerns over policies to challenge educational materials:
Along with the new policies, the board also added two rules mirroring the district’s existing policies — 871 and 872 — as 9130.01 and 9130.02, which outline how supplemental educational and library media materials can be challenged.
Those policies were at the center of the district’s decision to remove more than two dozen books, including Love Makes a Family.
For parents like Michelle Cramer, the effects are still felt at home.
“She still asks about Love Makes a Family if and when it will come back,” Cramer said of her daughter.
The district removed the book in July 2024, stating that it did not meet Human Growth and Development standards.
Love Makes a Family, according to its description on Amazon, shows different kinds of families, including those with same-sex parents.
Cramer and her husband responded by filing a discrimination complaint with the state, arguing the removal discriminated against families like theirs. That case is still pending.
“I wanna make sure my kids and their friends have an education that is inclusive and reflects current society,” Cramer said.
She now worries about keeping the policies at the center of the complaint.
“It leaves the door open for other decisions that are similar. I hope the board as a whole will be more open to further discussions and taking more time,” Cramer said.
Board members defended the policy plan at the August 11 meeting.
“We dedicated months to carefully crafting this policy,” board member Nina Christensen said. “It goes under legal scrutiny with our legal counsel."
I reached out to Board President Jennifer Grant and Menomonee Falls Superintendent David Muñoz for an interview on Tuesday, but did not immediately hear back.
Other parents counter that the process has harmed students.
“This harm didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened because of our current policies, the very policies for challenges to supplemental and library materials, which were used as justification to remove this book and to allow this discrimination to occur,” a parent at the August 11 meeting said.
Final approval of the policies is expected later this year. Administrative guidelines would be developed afterward.
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