|By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor Big Radio News |

A Janesville School District parent says she wants more information than the district’s willing to give right now about two Craig High School teachers suspended last week as the district and police look into inappropriate texts between staff and students.

As she waited to pick up her 16-year-old daughter in the parking lot at Craig High School, a woman named Samantha told WCLO Radio that the only info she has on teacher suspensions that came now a full week ago is “rumors” on social media.

Samantha says she wonders why the school district has disclosed no official word—not even a note to parents disclosing the fact the district has abruptly suspended two of its staff.

“I definitely don’t think that they tell us enough. I only learned it from my daughter,” she said. “It’s basically because of rumors going around when it was happening – people sharing texts and screen shots.”

Samantha, whose daughter is 16, says she’s “disheartened” by what she thinks is a pattern in how the district handles communicating bad news on its own campuses.

She points out that a parking lot vehicle accident not long ago at Craig that caused student injuries was dealt with very quietly. Samantha says she doesn’t remember seeing any communication from the district on that incident, either.

The district and police have shared some information with the local news media, including that the situation that sparked a district probe late last week involves teachers, students, and what police say are suspected to be “inappropriate text messages.”

School district officials tell WCLO they simply can’t say more right now, citing an ongoing employee due process investigation.

Janesville police say they’re still on the front end of an investigation, bu that the district had brought the matter to police.

This week, Janesville Police Chief Chad Pearson said police won’t delve into details of an investigation he says is still in information-gathering stages. He says detectives are scouring a series of what he calls “inappropriate texts” apparently exchanged between teachers and students.

Pearson says detectives are still interviewing people involved. The investigation, Pearson says, includes whether the contents of the texts could fit criteria of at least one type of criminal activity.

He says district parents should understand that a police investigation and a school district investigating a possible breach of district policy have different elements, and the two investigations, while rolling out in tandem, aren’t one in the same.

Samantha says if the district would disclose at least some information, it might help her  frame a discussion with her daughter to better offer her child guidance.

“I think just letting us know that these things are happening, and what they’re doing and the steps they’re taking to keep our kids safe, whether our kids are female or male. Because they all deserve to be safe,” she said. “They’re kids.”

Janesville School District Spokesman Patrick Gasper says the district has no “one-size-fits-all protocol” for how the district would notify families and parents of suspension of district employees.

He says communication of such matters while they’re under investigation is a balancing act of nuanced decisions which he says weigh employee due process rules, the integrity of police and school district investigations, and the privacy of youths involved.

“It may seem counterintuitive when social media is widely sharing details, but there are laws regarding student privacy and requirements of due process that we must follow regardless of how the matter is being discussed in the community,” Gasper said in an email exchange with WCLO Radio News on Thursday.

Samantha says she feels torn on what she can tell her daughter amid rumors, shared screen grabs, and other unverified information she knows is swirling on local social media. She hasn’t seen the screen grabs or posts, but her daughter has, and it’s all she and other students have to understand what may have occurred.

She’s told her daughter to withhold judgment with only rumors to go on. But she hopes the district gives families some information soon. She says she wants “facts, not rumors.”

“I told her that we only know what we know, and we can’t assume things. It’s just so hard, and how do you explain it to them (youths),” she said. “They’re so young, and some people think, ‘Oh, let’s share all the gossip that we can.’”

Stay tuned to 1230 AM WCLO Radio and WCLO.com as Big Radio continue to follow this investigation.