Fliers seeking "non-radical teachers" in Janesville creating controversy

JANESVILLE -- Janesville residents got fliers at their homes this weekend listing teachers and their salaries, and telling parents to seek non-radical teachers during the next school year. The fliers were put in the newspaper tubes at Janesville homes, and it seems the teachers listed on the fliers are ones who signed a petition to recall Governor Scott Walker.

Of the 765 Janesville School District teachers, the fliers list names of 321 of them, along with their salaries.

Milwaukee conservative group Citizens for Responsible Government, or CRG, provided the information to the as-yet-anonymous Janesville group behind the fliers, by making an open records request with the school district.

Mary MacPherson is one of the teachers listed on the flier. MacPherson admits she did sign a recall Walker petition. What she has a problem with is the "Parents Rights Protection Form" at the bottom of the flier, which requests a child be assigned to a classroom taught by a non-radical teacher. "I don't have problem with people knowing my salary," MacPherson said.

The flier doesn't define "radical," but does direct readers to a website of those who support the recalls.

The flier also directs parents to mail the protection forms to Janesville School Superintendent Karent Schulte, who says if she gets one, she will "throw it in the trash."

"I haven't had anyone respond back to me at this point saying that they wouldn't want their children in the classroom with a radical teacher, and if I would get something like that, again, I have no idea what that means exactly," Schulte said.

"I don't see how this can be construed as bullying. This is public information. They're just putting public information out for the public to take a look at and see what to do with it," Orville Seymer with CRG said.

Many of the educators want the group behind the fliers to step up and take responsibility for creating them, but so far, that hasn't happened. Superintendent Schulte says she'd like to have a dialogue with the group.