UPDATED at 8:00 am on 5/31/23 to include statement from Oshkosh School Board member Kelly DeWitt.
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OSHKOSH, Wis–Concerns are being raised about two potential administrative hires for the Oshkosh School District. Tonight (Wednesday) the Oshkosh School Board will vote to hire Samuel Coleman as an Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, and Anthony Miller, Junior as the district’s first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Coleman was involved in a controversy last year in the Shorewood School District, as the former Director of Information Technology sued, claiming he was fired in retaliation for providing officials with text messages containing racial insults. According to records obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last fall, Coleman sent messages to co-workers that stated “Tell them crackas to holla at you when they sober” and “I’m feeling recharged and ready to check some white folks“.
In a statement provided to the Journal-Sentinel, Coleman denied the messages were racist and that “”My comments that were made from a place of anger, pain and frustration were not about all White people. My comments were solely made about specific individuals whose racist actions provoked anger, pain and frustration.” Coleman took medical leave from the Shorewood district after the incident and eventually resigned.
School Board member Kelly DeWitt provided the following statement to WHBY:
Meanwhile, a complaint against Miller’s hiring has been filed with the district pointing out that he is not licensed as an instructor by the state Department of Public Instruction and will have oversight over principals and other administrators.
Miller is currently the manager of the Scholars for Success program at Fox Valley Technical College.