A teacher now based in Chicago has written a devastating open letter to the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, accusing the school district of failing to support a transgender woman teacher whom she believes was bullied into suicide by teacher’s aides at the school where she worked. Writing on her own blog, Madeline Dietrich accused the district of turning a blind eye to the bullying endured by Karis Anne Ross, who committed suicide at age 37 during the Thanksgiving break last November…. “I wrote the following letter to call attention to the tragic suicide of one of Milwaukee’s brightest teachers. The incident went unnoticed by the public, occurring over the Thanksgiving holiday,” Dietrich begins, pointing out that people often choose to look the other way when confronted by the bullying endured by transgender men and women.
Perhaps it’s because I was raised to treat people with respect. Or perhaps I’m just naive enough to be bothered by the idea that someone could allow a person to be bullied and abused for 10 years without seeing a need to take action to protect them.
Even after the bullying and harassment was brought to the attention of administrators, it appears nothing was done to protect Ms. Ross, whose only “crime” was being different. Being transgender isn’t a crime. It doesn’t mean something is wrong with a person. And it certainly doesn’t render them “less than” and worthy of being harassed and bullied. Granted, there will always be knuckle draggers and those who don’t play well with others, but I can’t fathom why they would have been allowed to continue harassing Ms. Ross without consequence for so many years. I say this knowing full well that I don’t have both sides of the story, but it’s not as if Milwaukee Public Schools’ leadership is being open and forthright with their side. What little is available in the way of information is nothing if not disturbing…and MPS’ closed-mouth refusal to address this tragedy only raises more questions.
Something happened, something that clearly shouldn’t have. A talented young teacher is dead by her own hand, and it appears her employer passed on several opportunities to stop the harassment that, at least according to Ms. Dietrich, drove Ms. Ross to take own life. If the story as detailed by Ms. Dietrich proves to be true, then someone in the Milwaukee Public School system needs to be called to account for their lack of action on behalf of and compassion for the plight of an MPS employee.
“Ms. Ross repeatedly informed the building principal, Dr. Albert J. Brugger. It had gone on for years, but in the weeks leading to the moment Ms. Ross chose to end her life, numerous emails were exchanged between Ms. Ross, school officials and the medical community, all pointing to a crisis which went largely ignored by Dr. Brugger, who rather than mediating or intervening in the conflict, chose to play down the situation and avoided any direct involvement with Ms. Ross and her aides,” she wrote before adding, “Ms. Ross was rejected by the very MPS employees whose job it was to assist her in caring for profoundly disabled children.”
Ms. Ross’ suicide note named all of the aides she claimed had harassed her and specifically mentioned Dr. Brugger as being complicit via his failure to take action to protect her. What remains unknown, at least so far as I can discern, is what specific actions Dr. Brugger and MPS took, or failed to take, to protect Ms. Ross from being bullied by teacher’s aides. Judging by the (lack of) response from MPS to a query by Milwaukee CBS affiliate WDJT, it would be easy to believe that this matter is not much of a priority for MPS. Did they also consider Ms. Ross to be “less than” and thus unworthy of being guaranteed of freedom from a hostile workplace environment?
What good is a policy designed to protect employees if those charged with enforcing it consistently look the other directions?
We asked MPS about the claims Karis was being bullied and the alleged lack of action by the principal. A spokesperson sent us this, “Ms. Ross was a longtime member of the Milwaukee German Immersion School staff whose presence is still missed.”
We were also given copy of the district’s anti-bullying policy. It states the action is not tolerated and a violation will be dealt with immediately.
Policies are only of value if they’re taken seriously and enforced when violated. Otherwise all you have, as appears to be the case with Ms. Ross, is a wasted collection of pixels that amount to nothing of value to anyone except administrators who point to it as proof that they take harassment and bullying serious. As MPS’ policy clearly states in section (2) HARASSMENT/BULLYING (NON-SEXUAL):
The District is committed to maintaining and ensuring a workplace that is free from all other types of workplace harassment. Harassment based on race or any other statutorily protected class or protected activity (e.g., religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, or complaint reporting) is unlawful. Harassment or bullying based on gender identity and/or expression is prohibited. Harassment or bullying for non-discriminatory reasons is inappropriate.
Yes, MPS had a policy in place; the question is whether administrators such as Dr. Brugger ever considered what was happening to Ms. Ross to be bullying. Did they not take her claims seriously? Did they feel she was being overly dramatic and sensitive? Did they not feel her worthy of being treated with dignity and compassion? Or did they just not care enough to do the right thing by using the district’s policy to protect her from harassment?
It seems there are more questions that answers, and MPS isn’t exactly working overtime to cover itself in glory. Perhaps they’re hoping the controversy will blow over if they ignore it. Perhaps they’re afraid that owning up to their role in condoning/ignoring the harassment of Ms. Ross will open them to potential lawsuits. Whatever the case may be, MPS isn’t being honest- about what happened, their role in it, or what their administrators did or didn’t do. The silence only leads to more questions, the chief among being, “What are they hiding?”
I could go on at some length about MPS’ lack of human and simple human decency, but I came across a Facebook comment that sums it up pretty well:
[T]here are no queer suicides, only queer murders. She was pushed to the edge and over it by others; she named names, she pointed fingers, and nothing was done. It’s not a matter of political points or settlements, it’s about accountability for what was done to this woman. She was left so battered and dehumanized by others that suicide looked like the only logical solution to how much the world told her to get out. And if you’re thinking “it’s only words”, then you’ve never been told how ugly and unloveable you are, day in and day out, without respite or break, from the way people look at you to even the direct hatred they spit in your face all because you’re trans. To walk in to a room and turn almost every head; not because you’re stunning, but because, to them, you’re a morbid curiosity and an oddity that needs to be dissected and understood in greater detail than the stranger sitting next to them. All for existing. “but you’ve got a dick, right?” “So have you had ‘the surgery’?” “You’re just confused.” and a MILLION other things and then another million after that start to scratch the surface of all the little ways the world wishes to kill trans women either directly or indirectly. She was murdered by the school district. I blame them. I blame everyone complicit in this.
Whether she was “murdered by the school district” remains an open question. I suppose that depends on whether one believes MPS’ (lack of) actions can be held to be directly related to Ms. Ross’ suicide. Whatever the case may be, whatever the truth may be, there’s little doubt but that the suicide of a talented teacher who just happened to be transgender was preventable. Her story didn’t need to end as it did. It appears she took her life because MPS couldn’t be bothered to enforce their own anti-bullying and harassment policy. If there’s a different contained within this story, all MPS has to do is step up and give voice to it.
So far the only noise and activity emanating from MPS is the sound of crickets.
I can only hope Dr. Brugger and the MPS administration can find it within themselves to take an honest look at their role in this tragedy. I’m trying not to pass judgment because I don’t know all the facts, though what is known doesn’t reflect well on them. The circumstantial evidence is certainly damning, but we have yet to hear MPS’ side of the story. Then again, their refusal to address Ms. Ross’s death speaks volumes.
Karis Anne Ross deserved better.
