UNION GROVE, Wis. — Parents raised concerns at a regular school board meeting on Monday, calling for transparency from the district and more support for students, less than a week after Union Grove High School Superintendent Thomas Johnson was arrested on possession of child pornography charges.
“Right now parents feel a little bit left in the dark. Community anxiety is incredibly high,” said parent Elissa Antongiorgi.
The Union Grove High School Board put Johnson on unpaid leave Thursday, hours after he appeared in court on two child pornography charges.
“Main concerns right now, obviously, are the safety and care of our children,” Antongiorgi said.
Antongiorgi said she wants more communication from the school and counseling for students who are processing this news.
“Everybody's just in shock right now,” she said.
Dawn Van Ess, who is retired after serving on the board for 33 years, said Johnson is well known in the community and school.
“Never saw any, you know, alarming thing when he was here. Just hard to believe,” Van Ess said. “I care deeply about this district, and I am distressed about what happened. I had no idea the man was the man that he obviously might be, but deeply distressed, especially for the students."
The case began with an anonymous letter investigators say was sent by a Union Grove elementary school teacher who claimed to be having an affair with Johnson for the last six years.
The letter claimed Johnson threatened her career after she said she saw inappropriate messages and pictures from past or current students on his phone.
During a forensic search of Johnson's phone, investigators say they found two images of nude underage girls.
"If these allegations are true, and only if, it does point to a massive failure of administrative oversight that happened right under all of our noses," Antongiorgi said.
Parents also want answers about whether students were affected.
“I want to hear from [the school board] to tell families whether current or former students were affected,” parent Lori Christiansen said.
Jail records show Johnson is out on bond. TMJ4 stopped by his home Monday, but no one answered the door.
Johnson is due back in court Thursday morning.
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