Fond du Lac

Two words that best describe this school district are:

Cruel and Sadistic

This school district is located in Fond du Lac County, which is one of the most rabid Trump supporting Wisconsin counties. We rate this county as one of Wisconsin's Ultra-MAGA counties-places where dissent against the Trump policy agenda is not allowed. 

We cannot understand how this district retains any of it's best teachers with a MAGA Controlled School Board giving such minimal pay raises for the past 15 years. The average Fond du lac teacher salary increased by only 8.4% since 2011, far below the inflation rate of 36.4%. This school district is the definition of a "Dead End" job.

As evidenced by the overwhelming vote to defeat the April 1, 2025 Operational Referendum, there is little support for the Fond du lac school district from the MAGA Cult members that are the majority of the residents in the Fond du lac school district.

Since 2022, the district has been ruled by a school board and Superintendent with a tyrannical management style. Up to 50% of teachers and administrators have fled the tumultuous cruel working conditions in this district over the past 4 years. 

In April 2025, Fond du lac taxpayers rejected an Operational Referendum resulted in the elimination of 80-100 teacher and administrative positions for the 2025-26 school year and beyond. According to news reports, 27 teachers were laid off on Tuesday April 15th. It is always traumatic to find out that you no longer have a job for next year, but the manner in which the 27 teachers were treated by Fond du Lac HR representatives was especially disgusting. 

Throughout the day on April 15, 2025 HR "professionals" visited teachers across the district during the school day while they were teaching their students. These HR "professionals" pulled them out of class to tell them that they didn't have a job next year. These heartless ghouls then sent the (often crying) teachers back into their classrooms telling them that they should continue teaching their lesson as if nothing had just happened to them, and that there would be punishment for failure to control their emotions in front of their students. 

In addition to layoffs, the remaining teachers are enduring a significant teaching workload increase in the 2025-26 school year in both giant class sizes and being forced to teach nearly every period during the school day. Plus significant salary and benefit cuts on top of being expected to put in 80+ hour weeks! 

This heartless behavior is nothing new. For many years, teachers have been treated like dirt in the Fond du lac school district.  One particularly egregious example occurred on October 15, 2024 during a before school faculty meeting at Woodward Middle School.  The Superintendent and  Cabinet level administrators were surprise "guests" and proceeded to ream teachers out by calling them "failures" blaming them for Woodward Middle School not meeting expectations in the annual State testing results. Teachers were encouraged to resign by the end of the week to save the district from having to fire 50% of them at the end of the year. 

After being screamed at, teachers were dismissed to their classrooms to teach their students. Students reported that many teachers were crying after enduring the vicious tongue lashing by the Superintendent.  District level administrators then walked the building to conduct formal observations in the classrooms of any teachers that they observed crying or otherwise upset from the morning faculty meeting.  Numerous teachers were threatened that they would be sent home without pay or face immediate termination if they were unable to control their emotions and  complete their teaching responsibilities.

The right wing MAGA controlled Fond du Lac School Board is 100% supportive of how Fond du lac administration & HR treats teachers.   

Though there's a new Superintendent in place for the 2025-26 school year, all of the cruel and sadistic cabinet level administration is still in place.  Plus the MAGA Trump supporting community still hates public schools and especially public school teachers. 

There is another Operational Referendum scheduled for April 2026. The Fond du lac district says that it will have to lay off many more teachers and severely reduce the already poverty level teacher pay and meager benefits that the district hasn't slashed already. We'd be surprised if this new referendum passes given the outspoken MAGA Republican community opposition to quality public schools and the teachers who work there. We're glad to see the large number of talented Fond du lac teachers who have made the decision to flee this district and wish them only the best in their new districts and/or their new state. 

Our goal in presenting this information is that no job candidate accepts a teaching position without understanding the sordid treatment of teachers by the District and the greater Fond du lac community.