LAKE GENEVA — A wave of educators at a Lake Geneva elementary school are leaving the classroom behind. Two of them addressed parents and the school board to say they're not leaving because of the students.
"I'm leaving because the administration failed to make me feel protected, respected, and heard," said Stacy Smith, a second-grade teacher at Central-Denison Elementary School who announced her resignation at Tuesday night's Lake Geneva Joint #1 school board meeting.
Watch: Lake Geneva teachers publicly announce their resignation and concerns with district during board meeting
Four educators from Central-Denison were previously asked to resign during a special board meeting on April 28. That included assistant principal Jessica Bradley, who just started in her role this school year.
Those resignations inspired concerned parents to fill Tuesday night's school board meeting in search of answers. The meeting overflowed and had to move to Lake Geneva Middle School because the fire department said the room was well over capacity.
When the crowd arrived at the middle school, Smith explained that she is stepping away from education because of concerns about administration.
"I'm leaving without a plan because protecting my well-being finally became more important than remaining in an environment which repeatedly left me feeling devalued," Smith said. "High-quality teachers do not leave when things are hard. They leave when they are wronged."
Fellow Central-Denison teacher Demetra Condos followed Smith and announced that she was also leaving after 20 years in the school district.
"I'm just going to read my resignation because I think transparency is so important and something that we're lacking in the school district," Condos said.
The school board and Superintendent Peter Wilson entered a closed session directly after the meeting adjourned. As such, TMJ4 was unable to approach them for comment on the public resignations.
As Lake Geneva prepares for the end of the school year, some parents are now worried about who will teach their children when the new school year starts.
"When good teachers leave, it's not just a staffing issue," parent Cortney Rouse said to the school board. "It's a loss of stability, a loss of trust, a loss of experience and passion that can not simply be replaced."
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