West Bend School District - Defying Walker? Shenanigans? You decide.

As you may recall, there was quite an uproar over the alleged "broken grommet" of the flag at Badger Middle School in mid February.  (This is the newest flag and flagpole in the District; the one that was paid for out of the referendum cash.)  You can refresh your memory HERE  

Since that time, numerous inquiries were sent to Supt. Ted Neitzke via Eagle Forum of Wisconsin-Washington County (EFWC).  Here is what was learned:

1.  Neitzke initially told talk radio show host, Mark Belling, that he knew nothing of the incident, but backpeddled and responded that the people had witnessed the problem as early as Sunday from neighboring churches, and the school secretary had received numerous complaints.

2.  The broken flag in question is pictured below (WBSD photo).  As you can see, the grommet, itself is not broken.:

4.  In an email to EFWC, Neitzke stated:

"The flag will be visually inspected at the start of each day. The flags will be lowered and not flown on weekends or during holidays when there is no staff to attend to them."

Oh, really?

Here is a picture of the West Bend Police Department flag flying at half staff per Governor Walker's orders last Friday, 03/08/2012.  This is what half staff looks like.

This is a photo of the Badger Middle School flag on the same day at approximately 2:15 p.m.  So this was visually inspected that day; the day it was supposed to be at half staff.  This is NOT what half staff looks like.  Why wasn't Governor Walker's order obeyed on Friday?  Just wondering...

This is a picture of the flag on Saturday, 3/10/2012.  As Neitzke stated above, the flag would not fly on weekends....  Huh?

Continuing right along...

5.  Within 24 hours the entire school district was sent a CYA email from Neitzke that states the flag was not tampered with by anyone, and that it was simply broken, and now repaired.  No shenanigans.
6.  Video surveillance was requested from Neitzke who stated "There is no video."  In the email to EFWC, Neitzke states, "As a result of the complaint I have investigated the situation. I interviewed Principal Kurt Becker, the Badger Facility Maintenance person, the Administrative Assistant to the Principal, I reviewed the video tape and I have discussed the situation with several community members who observed the downed flag over the weekend."

So there you have it.  Lefty shenanigans?  You decide.......