The Sun Prairie School Board on Monday May 9 unanimously approved a proclamation in recognition of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month during the same meeting that a mother of AAPI students remarked that the district’s teachers are not communicating effectively with parents.
Read by Chandu Vemuri, an AAPI resident who works as executive assistant to the school board and district leadership team, the proclamation recounts the history of AAPI Month and notes the fact that AAPI student make up 10% of the Sun Prairie Area School District student population (read the entire proclamation with the electronic version of this story at sunprairiestar.com).
The proclamation “strongly encourages our staff and community members to observe, recognize, support, and celebrate the culture, heritage, and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to our schools, communities, state, and country.”
Student Board Member Sarah Rhoads, sitting on her last board meeting, said the high school included a slide show about AAPI culture as part of its Cardinal 30 period on Monday.
District Director of Equity and Inclusion Michael Morgan told the board that all activities this year were planned last year. He recently met with the parent leadership committee about plans for 2023 with the intent that activities at each district school building would be different, and that the district would provide “wrap-around” support for those activities.
But the mother of four AAPI students currently in elementary school said there is some disconnect currently between teachers and parents. Katey Kamoku, a former district teacher as well as the executive director of the Explore Children’s Museum, and the wife of a candidate for the West High School principal position, expressed concerns about the process and how the candidates were chosen and if there was enough research done into who the potential candidates were.
“I reached out to some of our board members and they were very gracious and took the time to teach me and help me understand how our board works in relation to our district administrators because in my mind, the board is elected to represent the community voices,” Kamoku said. “You guys are our voice. That’s why I chose you. And I think . . . just there’s a lot of disconnect happening between our teachers and our parents. And you guys, frankly, and it concerns me as a district parent.”
Making it clear she was not at the meeting to fight for her husband, Kamoku also wanted to make sure her children were represented.
“I’m up here right now to see that they’re represented. They are actually Pacific Islanders, so it’s kind of interesting that we’re celebrating that tonight,” Kamoku said. “And I just want to build a bridge of communication. And I want you guys to understand the concerns of our community and parents like me, who are completely invested in this community and all kids that come here.
“And just looking at the turnover with teachers and administrators and the selection of people who may be qualified, but are they connected to our community? Do they understand our specific needs?” Kamoku asked. “And our kids and how we function as the fastest growing city in the state? So I just wanted to come here and say I hope to learn more about the process of how you choose our building leaders, because our building leaders are who create a culture of our schools that trickles down.”
During the meeting, the board also approved the hiring of Jennifer Ploeger as the new Sun Prairie West High School Principal.
Ploeger has worked as an assistant principal at Madison LaFollette High School since 2019 and before that worked as a teacher leader at Madison East High School where she taught biology and chemistry bilingually from 2012-19. She is a 2018 graduate of the EduCate program at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota where she received her principal licensure. She also has a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with bilingual specialization from the American College of Education in Indianapolis and received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a chemistry minor and a secondary education certificate from Central College in Pella, Iowa.
Other professional experience includes working as a physics and chemistry instructor at Benito Juarez Academy in Chicago; teaching physical science, chemistry and Spanish II at Knoxville High School in Knoxville, Iowa and working as a middle school Spanish I and II teacher at Johnston Middle School in Johnston, Iowa.
During her remarks thanking the board, Ploeger said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join this wonderful community and open this brand new school.”
