Former Sun Prairie West High School Principal Jennifer Ploeger will be charged with two counts of failure to report child abuse, five months after former Dean of Students Robert Gilkey-Meisegeir was arrested on 14 charges of child pornography and two charges of child exploitation.
Online records did not reflect charges as of 3:30 pm Friday.
An independent investigation commissioned by the school district found failures in judgement and process by several administrators and teachers, most notably Ploeger and Director of School Operations Bridget Kotarak, who is also West’s Title IX Coordinator.
According to the report, allegations of inappropriate relationships between Gilkey-Meisegeier and students were reported to school administrators as early as November 2024, but none were investigated until April 2025. That first investigation found no wrongdoing and Gilkey-Meisegeier only spent one day on leave. He was not terminated until June 9, 2025, and was arrested in July.
Sun Prairie Police Chief Kevin Warych said Ploeger’s failure to report the April 2025 incident and investigation to authorities led to one charge. Her failure to report another, previously undisclosed incident involving a family and consumer education teacher in January 2025 led to the second charge.
Warych said police also found probable cause to charge district human resources director Chris Sadler with misconduct in public office, but the district attorney’s office decided not to pursue that charge at this time.
In all six people were placed on leave, and four have returned or will soon return to work. Only Ploeger and Kotarak lost their jobs.
“(Ploeger) is innocent of these charges,” Ploeger’s attorney Jason Luczak said in a press conference Friday afternoon. “We are going to vigorously fight these charges, and we agree with the independent investigator’s conclusions that no mandatory reporting violations occurred in relation to anyone involved in this case.”
“While I found no evidence of malicious intent or mandatory reporting violations, the failures in judgment and process were significant and raise serious concerns about the ability of Ploeger and Kotarak to maintain credibility and effectiveness in their roles going forward,” investigator Samuel Hall wrote in the report.
If convicted, Ploeger could face a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail on each of the two charges.
The investigation found that Ploeger directed assistant principal Nehemiah Barrett to suspend the student who initially brought concerns to administrators’ attention in November 2024 for spreading rumors. That student told investigators that she had offered to show Barrett text messages corroborating Gilkey-Meisegeier’s inappropriate behavior, but he didn’t want to see them.
Tommy Belz, the father of that student, said he’d be surprised if Barrett was not also charged, and that he wants more accountability as well.
“I know there’s more people who knew,” he said. “I wouldn’t be happy if this was the end. No, if they stopped it with their charges and said, ‘okay, cool, we’re good,’ I would not be happy with it whatsoever.”
Barrett will return to work as principal of Prairie Phoenix Academy next week, a fact that Belz finds “mind-blowing.”
“I want to see all everyone involved in this go down, but I know that’s easier said than done,” he said.
