WINNECONNE (NBC 26) — Winneconne high school students organized a parking lot rally on the first day of school Wednesday to show support for District Administrator Margaret Larson, who was placed on paid administrative leave last week by the school board.
Students fundraised about $2,500 to buy 450 T-shirts for the demonstration. The shirts read, "I Stand with Peg and the Winneconne Community." Students say they came up with the idea themselves.
Brooklyn Messerschmidt, a senior, said the rally was entirely voluntary.
"This is completely optional. We just told everyone, we're like, if you want to like, come to school, wear a shirt, and show your support," Messerschmidt said.
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Messerschmidt said the goal was to make Larson feel valued.
"Yeah, we're just trying to show our support for Doctor Larson because of the recent events that have been happening. We wanted to show her how much she means to us and that we're obviously on her side," Messerschmidt said.
Senior Jack Curran said students felt it was important to speak for themselves.
"We saw that she was recently placed on leave and we wanted to coordinate a peaceful like protest against that and show our support for her," Curran said.
Larson was placed on paid administrative leave by the school board, with further decisions pending an internal investigation review. NBC 26 previously spoke with Board President Kati Calewarts and asked her about the move, but she declined to comment on the topic, noting it was a closed session discussion. NBC 26 also connected with Larson for a statement, but she declined to comment.
The student demonstration comes against the backdrop of a recall petition seeking the removal of Calewarts and Board Vice President Dean Ackmann. The petition needs 1,500 verified signatures to trigger an election.
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