The yearslong social transitioning of a Winneconne High School student against the express wishes of that student’s parents led to a recall effort against multiple school board members and the sudden retirement of the school district’s administrator, the Heartland Post has learned exclusively.
Last week, Winneconne Community School District Administrator Peggy Larson shocked the community by taking an early retirement and making cryptic comments through her attorney about the results of an investigation into her. The Heartland Post can now confirm that that investigation was tied to the social transitioning of a recent graduate that dates back several years.
In 2023, a then-sophomore at Winneconne High School told his parents that he believed he was born in the wrong body and was actually a girl. His parents told him that they disapproved of this and brought him in for more extensive treatment of his ongoing mental illness. The boy stopped talking about his desire to transition, and his mother believed it to be a passing phase that he had grown out of.
Unbeknownst to her, though, Winneconne High School had begun socially transitioning her son by referring to him by his newly adopted female name and using female pronouns when addressing him. The student’s parents were never notified of this change, and only discovered it months later when correspondence from the school identified the student by his female name.
The parents were livid and demanded answers from the Winneconne School District. Administrator Peggy Larson indicated that the school was following proper procedure by socially transitioning the student without informing the parents. Larson said that this was out of a fear that the student would face ostracism or even abuse at home if the gender transition was discovered.
The boy’s parents were livid and kept pressing the school district for answers. In 2024, however, the Winneconne School District changed its Title IX policy and the high school was no longer in compliance.
The parents discussed filing a lawsuit against the district or potentially pulling their child out of the school, but he instead agreed to stop identifying as a girl at school and said he would tell school officials he no longer wished to be referred to by a female name and pronouns.
The boy’s mother thought this was the end of the controversy until graduation approached this past school year. The school contacted her and informed her that her son would be receiving two diplomas—one with his birth name and the other with his chosen female name—and that it would be up to the student which name would be read when he walked across the stage.
Ultimately, the student decided to have his birth name read but was issued two separate diplomas. He is now a college student attending a Universities of Wisconsin system school.
Shortly after graduation, the student’s mother happened to run into Winneconne School Board President Kati Calewarts and shared with her some background information on what had been going on. At no point did Calewarts share any information with the mother, which would have violated School Board policy.
However, word of this encounter reached a health room aide at Winneconne High School, who then excoriated Calewarts during the public comment period of a subsequent school board meeting. That aide was fired, and the Board began investigation Larson, the District Administrator, over her behavior and actions during the yearslong controversy over the student’s social transition.
Meanwhile, friends of the health room aide galvanized public support for her and organized a recall effort against Calewarts and Board Vice President Dean Ackmann—the only two members of the board eligible to be recalled.
They spent weeks gathering signatures to place recall elections on an upcoming ballot, but those signatures were reportedly rejected, and the recall effort has stalled pending official word from Winneconne officials.
Last week, Larson surprised the district by taking an early retirement—a decision she said through an attorney that she did not want to make but felt she had to.
“Peggy understands that records relating to the circumstances preceding her retirement may be released in response to public records requests,” her attorney said in a statement. “She wants to be clear that she disagrees with the investigation, its conclusions, and certain assertions made by the investigator. Those conclusions do not reflect Peggy’s understanding of the events or the values that have guided her throughout her career.”
