EAST TROY, Wis. — Three East Troy mothers all pulled their children out of the local school district because they say they were bullied or harassed. They all decided to speak to the school board to try and change the culture.
"Policies written on paper do not protect children unless they are followed," Betty Lysaght said to the school board during East Troy Schools' annual meeting Monday night.
Lysaght said her son was a star athlete at East Troy High School, but she says she withdrew her son from the school district in February after an incident during his extracurricular activities.
"We were at a youth wrestling practice where one of my sons was sexually harassed, and this was not the first time," Lysaght said. "Meaningful change begins when a community refuses to look away."
Katie Fruedenstein said her daughter experienced bullying from classmates at East Troy Middle School, which escalated to a student assaulting her daughter.
"If some of the behaviors by these bullies were done in adulthood, these kids would be sitting in a jail cell," Fruedenstein told the board during Monday's meeting.
Fruedenstein said she withdrew her daughter from the school district in March shortly after her daughter confessed the bullying had reached a breaking point.
"She told me she wanted to die. She told my husband she wanted to commit suicide," Fruedenstein said. "She's doing better now that I have removed her from the district, but who's to say the next child isn't going to feel the same thing?"
Lysaght and Fruedenstein were joined by Rachel Anderson during Monday's meeting. Anderson saw Lysaght's posts on social media and connected with her after what she said her daughter experienced at East Troy High School.
"She had been hiding the fact that she was being bullied and assaulted because she didn't want me to pull her from the district," said Anderson, who pulled her daughter out of East Troy Schools in 2024. "I think if people keep coming forward and are persistent enough, the school board and administration will listen."
TMJ4 e-mailed both East Troy Schools board president Adam Witkiewicz and district superintendent Chris Hibner about the allegations brought forth by the parents and if the school board will address these concerns. Neither one responded by the time this story was aired.
The parents are hopeful their words to the school board can improve conditions for students going forward.
"I still have one child left in the district, and I'm scared to death of what could happen," Fruedenstein said. "When I send my children off to school, I expect that they're safe."
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