SPRING VALLEY — Spring Valley parents and students spoke during the public comment portion of the Sept. 16 school board meeting regarding the resignation of Spring Valley/Elmwood Wrestling Coach Ryan Turner.

The board discussed and accepted Turner’s resignation during the closed session period at the special board meeting Sept. 1, and the Elmwood School District had his resignation on the Sept. 21 meeting agenda.

“Our wrestling coach was given approximately four days, which included a weekend, from Friday at 4:30 p.m. to Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. to notify the district he was resigning. I do know that four days is an extremely short amount of time when someone’s employment and role with our students is at stake,” Caitlin Hoon said. “Was this individual given a meaningful opportunity to seek appropriate counsel, consider options, respond to the concerns and make an informed decision before being expected to resign? That is what concerns me. I am not here tonight to claim that a law was broken. I am asking whether the process reflected the fairness, professionalism, communication and leadership that we should expect from this district. I want to be clear, Act 89 was not in effect when this matter occurred. These events occurred before Sept. 1, before the school year and wrestling season.”

Hoon asked the board to take five steps regarding the process: perform an after-action review of the process, establish clear safeguards on personnel decisions, provide employees reasonable time to respond, create consistent board oversight and provide leadership and process training.

The details of the alleged incident were not shared during open session as it is a personnel matter. Each of the parents and wrestlers that spoke during public comment were in favor of allowing Turner to return to the coaching role if he chooses to do so.

“I can speak for the entire team when I talk about the feeling when I talk about the feeling Ryan brings to the wrestling room. Every time that I come to practice, I’m excited to be there because of the feelings that he gives you to really want to wrestle for Spring Valley. He gives me a sense of community and a sense of pride for being there,” senior wrestler Sam Schmitt, who has been a captain of the team since his freshman year, said. “I’m not a team sports guy. I don’t like relying on other people to do their job for me to be successful in mine, but being on a team with Ryan Turner has made me realize that I want to wrestle the best for my teammates, and I haven’t really felt that way for anyone else.”

Schmitt said he is not confident that Turner can be replaced and he has motivated many student-athletes to join the wrestling team and improve themselves on and off the mat.

“He is somebody that I wish to mirror as I grow. He’s changed my life in a lot of ways,” Schmitt said. “He gives me a great sense of what a man is and what a man does.”

Michelle Schmitt, Sam’s parent, also spoke at the meeting.

“It’s certainly understandable that this is a precarious situation, and we cannot pretend that nothing happened. The situation has to be addressed in some way. I do want to note, however, that when Mr. Groh called me to inform me of the incident, I was not alarmed in any way or worried in any way,” Michelle Schmitt said. “Mr. Groh maintained privacy, mentioned no names and did not go into detail about the incident, but knowing Ryan for about 30 years, I knew personally that there was no ill-intention whatsoever behind what had happened.

“Since that time that I was notified about the incident, I have been filled in on the details, and I can only say that it was an unfortunate event that everyone seems to be in agreement was unintentional. This event happened prior to the enactment of Act 89, was not when school was in session, was not during the coaching season and was not sent directly to students or minors,” Michelle Schmitt said. “I am not in support of Ryan needing to step back from his role as coach or mentor.”

According to the Wisconsin Legislative Council, Act 89 “requires each school board, private school governing body, and independent charter school governing board to adopt a policy on appropriate communication between employees or volunteers and students. This policy must be adopted by Sept. 1, 2026. The policy must specify appropriate content and methods of communication with students and must apply both during and outside school hours. Additionally, the policy must include a range of consequences up to and including termination for employees and volunteers who violate the policy.

“The act also requires each school board, private school governing body, and independent charter school governing board to provide annual training to employees on identifying, preventing, and reporting grooming and professional boundary violations. The Department of Public Instruction must develop a free training and make it available to schools.”

Other business

• The board approved the motion to rename the football field in honor of late Hall of Fame Coach Bob Thomas. The Spring Valley legend died back in March, and community members since rallied to rename the field in his honor. There is expected to be a dedication ceremony on the field Oct. 9.
• The board is still exploring the idea of a district-run daycare and is gathering information to be discussed at future meetings.
• Altered the superintendent evaluation form to be more focused on the job description and goals for the position.
• Increased extra-curricular bus driver pay by $5 per hour to $27.57 to encourage more drivers to take interest in driving outside of the regular routes.