Wisconsin school superintendent resigns after radio hot mic catches critical, profane remarks

A Wisconsin superintendent resigned after he was caught criticizing the district, making racial statements about Green Bay and using a profanity towards a district employee during a commercial break of a radio show.

Green Bay Area Public Schools Superintendent Claude Tiller Jr. resigned Saturday after comments he made on a local radio show became known during a district meeting last week, according to WPR.

In a special meeting, the school board voted unanimously to accept his resignation after hours of closed-door discussion.

“The Board and Dr. Tiller, Jr. have mutually agreed to the terms of Dr. Tiller, Jr.’s resignation from the district,” the board stated following the meeting. “Both Dr. Tiller, Jr. and the District have agreed that this is the best course of action for both parties.”

“The Board and District wish to express their gratitude to Dr. Tiller for his many contributions to the Green Bay Area Public School District and wish him well in his future endeavors.” 

Tiller’s offending comments were made during commercial breaks but were included in an online stream of the radio show, a video of which has since been taken down.  

During the meeting, board member Ed Dorff explained what was said. 

“He used the term ‘lily, lily white’ to describe Green Bay,” Dorff said, according to WPR. “He suggested that a major employer wanted to keep people down and that they gave parties for kids as a substitute for doing right by their workers. He called into question the ability of 92% of the teaching staff to really do their jobs effectively.” 

Dorff said Tiller also named a specific individual who works for the district during the interview, calling her “a wicked witch and a b***h.” 

Tiller claimed in a statement he didn’t mean to call out specific individuals but instead was trying to address broader issues. 

“In the days subsequent to my appearance on the program, it was disheartening to learn that select comments in my two-hour long interview were interpreted in a manner that inadvertently caused offense with some in our school community,” he said, according to WPR.