HOLMEN, Wis. (WKBT) – Cheryl Hancock, chair of the Holmen School Board, resigned at Monday night’s meeting.
The resignation follows Hancock being criticized for having a fake Facebook profile for 11 years, using it to respond to critical posts about the board and to chat online with Conservative school board candidates.
Just last week, the school board voted to re-elect Hancock as president, shortly after she admitted running the fake account.
After Monday night’s closed session, Hancock read out a statement:
“As I reflected last weekend, I made the decision that this situation had become unmanageable for me, my family and my many friends and supporters as well as the Holmen School District, its students, its staff and the community. Holmen and have made the decision to resign from my position at the Holmen School Board effective immediately.
I would again like to apologize for using a fake persona, but I would ask you to read what I said and judge for yourself whether my comments were harassment or bullying. When I was presented with the information that had become public – I was at a crossroads – I could have denied that I was in fact Annie and because no crime had been committed, there was no had no way to prove otherwise. Holmen Police Department confirmed to me that there was never an investigation into this because there was no crime – in fact they destroyed the files sent to them in February. Last week I made the decision to be honest and open about my mistake and to ask for forgiveness. I always ask for your empathy and forgiveness.
If we want to come together and unite, maybe we should stop vilifying each other. It’s good to have strong opinions on either side, but all this name-calling gets us nowhere.
The school district has a lot of work to do and I am stepping down so they can continue. I am proud of what we have accomplished over the past two decades and hope that my overall record of achievement will one day be the legacy I leave behind and not this misstep.
A well-respected member of the community recently sent me this message: “A person is measured by the totality of service they render and your service is hard not to appreciate at the highest level. One small misstep doesn’t define you or change my respect for our friendship.
The school board did not elect another incumbent president at Monday night’s meeting.
The next board meeting will be on Monday.
The council released this statement:
“Concerned citizens of the Holmen School District,
As members of the Holmen School Board, we are committed to making our school district the best place it can be. We are committed to acting in the best interests of all neighborhood children. While we have faced many challenges over the past few years, our most recent challenge involves our very own School Board Chair, Cheryl Hancock. Ms Hancock admitted to using social media to interact with community members regarding community issues.
First of all, we, the members of the Board of Directors, would like to offer our sincere apologies to everyone who has been affected by these social media interactions. Next, we would like to thank the many members of the community who have reached out to us and shared their views on these recent events with us. Many of you have stated in your letters that our children are watching and that inappropriate actions must have consequences.
We would like to make it clear that this type of behavior has no place in our school board and in our community. When board members are elected, they are required to adhere to a board policy on board ethics. In this policy, it states that “the board and its members will conduct themselves with integrity and according to high ethical principles in order to model expected behaviors of staff and students and to maintain public trust and credibility.” We believe that the intent of this policy has been violated. Therefore, I officially notify the community of the Holmen School District that effective tonight, Mrs. Hancock has resigned as Chair of the Board and a member of the Holmen School Board.
Tonight the Board of Directors took the first step in rebuilding the trust, integrity, confidence and credibility that you expect from us as leaders in our community. I hope to move forward both as a community and as a school board. We will work tirelessly to rebuild relationships and bring our community together so that the entire Holmen community can be proud of our public schools.
We want to acknowledge and thank Cheryl Hancock for her service to the District over the past 26 years. Because of his unwavering commitment to the District, we are proud of the many accomplishments under his leadership. »
Earlier Monday, Hancock also resigned from her day job as executive director of the Coulee Recovery Center in La Crosse, effective immediately.
She planned to retire this summer before the controversy.
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