Gay principal alleges discrimination in lawsuit

A former longtime Wisconsin educator in a new federal lawsuit says he was fired from his job as a principal in rural Racine County because he is gay.

Jeffrey Peterson, who previously filed a discrimination complaint with the state, was put on leave in 2023 and later, the district declined to renew his contract. At the time, he was a principal in the small Raymond School District No. 14, in Racine County, southwest of Milwaukee — the same place where he attended elementary school himself.

His lawsuit claims multiple school board members and their allies pushed him out of the job because of his sexual orientation.

The suit alleges that board members faked complaints about his performance and accused him of grooming children, among other false allegations.

“Peterson’s reputation has been severely injured by the actions of the Defendants,” the complaint states. “The Defendants and their proxies fabricated a pretext to fire Peterson based on his sexual orientation.”

Peterson was an educator for over 30 years when he was terminated. He’d received a mayoral proclamation for his work and had been selected as a Wisconsin Principal of the Year.

He couldn’t find work for a year after the termination, according to the complaint.

“If Mr. Peterson wasn’t gay, then this discrimination from the board would not be happening,” Peterson’s attorney, Ben Hitchcock Cross, said in 2023.

Peterson has been in a relationship with his partner for decades. His sexuality was only known to close friends and family, and the complaint says he informed his employers to find out about insurance benefits for his partner.

After his sexuality was known, the complaint alleges that the school board members, who held anti-LGBTQ+ views, conspired to terminate Peterson from his job.

Those accused in the suit include the Raymond School District; the school board; former superintendent Michael Garvey; board members Gwen Keller, Audrey Kotusch, Janell Wise and Amanda Falaschi; and former school board candidate, Arthur Binhack.

Peterson, Raymond School District No. 14 and the Raymond School Board officers did not respond to requests for comment.

Peterson became the principal of his alma mater, the Raymond School, in 2021. It is a pre-K through eighth grade school with about 400 students in Franksville.

It was also the first school Peterson taught at, according to the complaint.

The 2022 Raymond school board election was contentious, and involved allegations of election fraud, according to the complaint.

Multiple candidates had support from groups expressing critical views of LGBTQ+ groups, according to the complaint. Those included the Convention of States, Moms for Liberty and the Natural Family Foundation.

The complaint specifically points to actions of people affiliated with Moms for Liberty, a right-wing activist group that was involved in multiple Wisconsin school board races.

The complaint alleges that Binhack, an “unelected political operative,” was given access by the board to school policies, staff and teachers.

Binhack was openly anti-gay, according to the complaint. Peterson claims school board members worked with Binhack against Peterson and LGBTQ+ topics in the district.

After Binhack questioned staff and the school’s curriculum, the board voted to change class materials and ban books, according to the complaint.

The board also hired Garvey as the new superintendent.

“Garvey made numerous comments to Peterson about LGBTQ teachers which were veiled messages that Peterson’s sexual orientation was a problem,” the complaint states.

One incident described in court documents included a talk between Garvey and Peterson about a gay teacher who “didn’t fit in” with the community and teachers at a school.

In April 2023, Garvey gave Peterson a very poor performance evaluation, according to the complaint. The two men had only worked together for 34 days.

The complaint states it was “the first and only poor evaluation Peterson had received during his 29 years working for Wisconsin schools.”

In August 2023, a group of about 30 local residents headed to the monthly school board meeting “to commend Peterson for his impactful school leadership.”

The same day, Peterson gave a letter to the school board notifying them he believed he was being discriminated against.

During this time period, school leaders received a letter accusing Peterson of sexualizing and “grooming” children, according to the complaint. That same letter called for public condemnation of the principal.

Court documents allege school board member Kari Morgan emailed that letter to Binhack to use against Peterson.

The complaint claims Morgan, Keller, Kostuch and Falaschi crafted a document “that contained false information that Peterson was being investigated for inappropriate conduct with children.”

At a school board meeting, Kostuch said the board wasn’t planning to renew Peterson’s principal contract, according to the complaint.

The following day, Garvey placed Peterson on administrative leave, according to the complaint. Garvey also informed Peterson the district had a public records request about him from Binhack.

“Binhack and (Joann) Koenecke provided the requests to Morgan, manipulated the records that would be released to the public, and Koenecke disseminated the manipulated open records to the media,” the complaint states.

The complaint states Koenecke was, at the time, the vice chair for the Racine County chapter of Moms for Liberty.

Eventually, at a public meeting the board voted 4-1 against renewing Peterson’s contract. Those against were Kostuch, Wise, Keller and Falaschi.

The single vote to keep Peterson came from board member Amy Helvick, who stated publicly she thought Peterson wasn’t being fairly represented.

Peterson was placed on administrative leave for the remainder of his contract as principal, which the complaint says he appealed, but didn’t win.