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Chris Rickert: A Dane County judge on Monday dismissed a child sex crimes case against a former Sun Prairie School District dean of students who was sentenced in April to 18 years in federal prison. Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier, 31, was sentenced on April 28 for creating child pornography after he pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving […]
Chris Rickert: Following a series of scandals involving Sun Prairie School District employees, the district’s incoming superintendent is pledging to improve communication and ensure a clear chain of command when bad situations arise. Antoine Reed was formally hired on May 7 and officially takes over July 1. He currently serves as chief of culture and […]
David Blaska: Unsolicited advice to every school of education in America: make the federal criminal case against a child-abusing high school administrator mandatory course work on the perils of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Documents filed in United States of America v Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier(Case 3:25-cr-00088-wmc) constitute the required reading. Gilkey-Meisegeier, age 31, was sentenced Tuesday 04-28-26 to 18 years […]
Chris Rickert: Ploeger was one of several current or former school district employees criticized in an investigation into the district’s response to the sex-crime allegations made against Gilkey-Meisegeier. That investigation, by Milwaukee attorney Samuel C. Hall Jr., found district leaders didn’t do enough to investigate the allegations. The investigation found that “school-level and district-level administrators […]
By Danielle DuClos: In the span of seven months, five high-ranking officials at the Sun Prairie Area School District resigned, retired or announced exit plans, the School Board ordered an outside review of district staff, and the local Police Department started investigating administrators. The turmoil rocking Sun Prairie public schools largely stems from the district’s handling of sexual misconduct […]
Corrinne Hess: Ploeger was removed from her position following Gilkey-Meisegeier’s arrest. Sun Prairie Police Chief Kevin Warych said an incident in April involving Gilkey-Meisegeier and a student resulted in the dean being placed on administrative leave. But the allegations were not reported to either the Sun Prairie Police Department or the Dane County Child Protective […]
Chris Rickert: Prosecutors will charge a former Sun Prairie West High School principal with two counts of failing to report child abuse, the city’s police chief said Friday. The charges against Jennifer Ploeger come after a lengthy investigation sparked by allegations against a former West dean of students, Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier, who over the summer was […]
Chris Rickert: Sun Prairie School District administrators didn’t do enough to investigate allegations that now-former West High School Dean of Students Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier was having inappropriate relations with female students, an independent investigation has found.
Chris Rickert: Amid an ongoing investigation into a former Sun Prairie West High School staffer, the Sun Prairie School District has named the school’s second acting principal of the just-started academic year. Recently retired Middleton High School Principal Peg Shoemaker will take over for West’s Associate Principal Ed Ford, according to a Tuesday news release from district […]
David Blaska Your irascible host is a proud graduate of Sun Prairie Sr. High School, Class of 19xx … well, never mind. The farm village of our youth had a working blacksmith (he was village president) and a harness maker on Main Street. In the years since, the city has grown more populous than Manitowoc, requiring […]
Sun Prairie: Following the arrest last month of a former dean of students on child pornography and exploitation charges, the Sun Prairie School Board has deemed district administrators out of compliance with policies requiring them to communicate with the board and the public. While board members did not directly reference the district’s handling of the […]
Chris Rickert: A former Sun Prairie West High School administrator accused of having inappropriate relationships with two students and possessing child pornography was ordered held for trial during a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Robert E. Gilkey-Meisegeier, 30, faces two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and 13 counts of possession of child pornography — all […]