Madison Metropolitan School District board enters closed session to review student discipline

The Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education voted 4-0 to enter a closed session to review disciplinary proceedings and decisions involving individual students, citing Wisconsin statutes that permit closed meetings for certain personnel and student-record matters.

A board member moved that the board go into closed session “pursuant to Wisconsin State statute” for the purpose of reviewing disciplinary proceedings and decisions involving individual students; the motion was seconded by President Nichols, Board president. The board voted 4-0 in favor of the motion and recessed into closed session. After the vote, a board member said, “We’re in closed session.”

The board cited exemptions that allow closed meetings for specified personnel and student-record matters. The transcript records the statutes cited during the motion as Wisconsin Statute §19.85(1)(a), (f) and (g), and statutes related to student records and school board authority, referenced in the motion as §118.125 and §120.13(1)(e). The public portion of the transcript contains no names, case details, or further discussion of the disciplinary matters.

The action recorded in the public transcript was strictly the motion, its second, and the roll call vote to go into closed session. No formal disciplinary decisions or outcomes for specific students are recorded in the public portion of the meeting transcript provided. When and whether the board returns to open session or takes any publicly reported action on the disciplinary matters was not specified in the transcript.