Baraboo students walk out over district’s handling of crash victim memorials

November 12, 2021 5:03 PM

Logan Reigstad,

Posted: November 12, 2021 5:03 PM

by Logan Reigstad

BARABOO, Wis. — More than three dozen Baraboo students walked out of school Friday morning in their latest show of displeasure over the district’s handling of memorials to students who died in a car crash last month.

Baraboo School District’s director of communications Liz Crammond said approximately 40 students took part in the walkout without incident. Those who returned were welcomed back.

The district does not currently have plans to discipline the students, Crammond added.

Earlier this week, students said memorials for their classmates who died in the October 29 crash were taken down. At the time, the district said the sticky note memorials on lockers “were relocated to the Baraboo High School Student Services are to prevent the potential for re-traumatizing students and staff.”

After meeting with school staff, students were dissatisfied with the removal so they planned a protest and Friday’s walkout.

“At the end of the day it’s more traumatizing to take that down than to keep it up,” Jack Blessinger, a Baraboo High School junior, said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s Long Live Adlai and it’s Long Live Faith and the school doesn’t seem to realize that.”

“We need to get our point out there and let people know this is not okay, especially the school district, because we have had multiple meetings with them and they still don’t seem to understand that what they’re doing is wrong,” senior Jordan Fleischmann said during the walkout.

On the phone Friday afternoon, Crammond declined to directly address why the students walked out of school and cited student privacy when asked to confirm if the school suspended any students earlier in the week due to actions surrounding the memorials.

Three people died in the crash and two others were hurt. Sauk County officials said the car with all five inside was heading north on County Road A near Side Road around 10:38 a.m. when the driver lost control, spun into a ditch and hit a tree.