WILL & Buchman v. ECASD

Case Name: WILL & Buchman v. ECASD

Type of Case: Parental rights, constitutional law

Court: Eau Claire Circuit Court

Filed On: July 25, 2023

Current Status: WILL wins: ECASD gave over the records in August 2023!

WILL and Parent Sue to Obtain Document Withheld by School District

July 25, 2023 | A local parent, along with the WILL, has filed a complaint with a judge in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, after the school refused to provide a copy of a statement that the district acknowledges was read aloud to students in several classrooms.

WILL SECURES PUBLIC RECORDS VICTORY IN EAU CLAIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT, VOWS TO HOLD SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACCOUNTABLE WHEN PARENTS ARE IGNORED

August 15, 2023 | WILL and its client have received a completed open records request from the Eau Claire Area School District, securing an important victory for open records and transparency.

Background: On June 5, 2023, the second-to-last day of the school year, all orchestra students at Northstar Middle School were required to report to the orchestra room during homeroom. Once there, they found orchestra teacher Jacob Puccio, a school counselor, and the District’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director, Dang Yang.

Students were told that Puccio would be undergoing a gender transition from male to female. In addition, a scripted statement was read to multiple classes of elementary and high school music students in the district, including North High School and at least three elementary schools (Sam Davey Elementary, Locust Lane Elementary, and Northwoods Elementary). The statement was crafted by the District specifically to ensure that students received information in a particular way, but to date, parents have no details about what their children were told.

After these statements were read, Leah Buchman, who has children both in the middle school orchestra and high school band, requested a copy of the script. That request was denied, with the District’s attorney claiming that the document could not be disclosed because an investigation was underway into whether any “employee acted improperly with respect to the June 6 [sic] events.” WILL has since sent its own public records request asking for a copy of the script.