Woman claims kids look at porn at school in West Bend; superintendent, police respond

WEST BEND -- West Bend School District Superintendent Don Kirkegaard acknowledged the district didn't report a serious allegation regarding child pornography. This, after a parent of former students spoke during public comment sessions at multiple West Bend School Board meetings. She said kids were looking at and sharing pornography, which is against the law.

"This is very serious, and we need to make sure kids are protected in the schools," said Mary Weigand, who claims children were looking at and sharing child pornography at Badger Middle School.

Badger Middle School

Mary Weigand

"There was a parent who let me know their child was affected," said Weigand. She claimed the alleged incident happened sometime last year.

Weigand went to three school board meetings, where she brought up this issue, along with other topics. But Weigand, nor anyone on the board, reported the matter to police.

"That's their legal responsibility, so I went to them expecting there would be some sort of response," said Weigand.

Mary Weigand

When there wasn't, Weigand wrote a letter to the editor in the Washington County Insider that prompted the police chief to respond on Facebook, saying he had no knowledge of the claim, and that he told the superintendent "this claim should've been reported to the police."

Superintendent Don Kirkegaard

"At the time, I didn't look at it as a complaint," said Superintendent Kirkegaard.

At the board meetings, Kirkegaard said Weigand touched on a number of issues, and that he "didn't see that at all until she said something to the paper."

"I wish I had to do it over again, because I would have put her down to the police department so there could have been a formal investigation. There was, but it was after the fact rather than day one," said Kirkegaard.

In Feburary, a 15-year-old student was taken into custody after allegedly showing porn on his phone to others. The West Bend Police chief said that was the only investigation that he was aware of, up until the newspaper letter. The chief said Weigand "refused to provide information" including who the child was, or what had occurred.

Chief Ken Mueler called her behavior "irresponsible" in that she should "not withhold that information from police."

While the department assigned a detective to the case, a lieutenant told FOX 6 on Monday that without that information, they can't prove a crime occurred at this time. The lieutenant said if she is "unwilling to provide" information then the agency is "not looking into it any further."

Weigand did run for school board and lost, but said she's not actively looking to run again.

The superintendent said the board will address the matter at the next scheduled meeting, including looking at ways to improve safety and bringing in speakers for the district.