Whitnall School Board tells parents about possible Lowell Holtz probe

MILWAUKEE -- The school board in a suburban Milwaukee district is notifying parents that if former superintendent and current state superintendent candidate Lowell Holtz comes under investigation, the board will cooperate.

The Whitnall School Board sent parents a letter on Wednesday, March 29th saying that an outside group had requested the Milwaukee County district attorney investigate Holtz.

Holtz sent campaign-related emails from a district account prior to retiring from Whitnall in June 2016. He has denied violating the law. The emails were released by the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, which obtained them through an open records request of the Whitnall School District.

"While we acknowledge that our former Superintendent may have used district resources to engage in political activity during the workday, we have no knowledge of the extent," the school board wrote in a statement to FOX6. "We have no knowledge of the extent because we did not conduct an investigation internally."

The letter signed by the board says it will not spend any money on its own trying to recoup wages from Holtz for the time he may have used district resources sending campaign-related emails while working for the district.

"The district’s only involvement in the investigation has been our legal obligation to cooperate—so far, by fulfilling open record requests and by expressing a commitment to future compliance with the DA to the DA," the board wrote in its statement.

Holtz is is challenging incumbent state superintendent Tony Evers in Tuesday's election. They meet Friday night for a debate broadcast statewide.