New charges referred in West High School investigation
SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. (WKOW) — The Dane County District Attorney’s Office is filing charges against the former principal at Sun Prairie West High School in connection with her handling of an investigation that led to a school employee being charged with child sexual exploitation.
The Sun Prairie Police Department referred two counts of fail to report child abuse/neglect against Jennifer Ploeger. Police announced the charges during a Friday press conference.
Police also referred charges against the Sun Prairie Area School District director of human resources, Chris Sadler, for failure to report child abuse/neglect and misconduct in public office. However, the district attorney is no longer pursuing those charges. 27 News has removed Sadler’s photo from this article as a result of the DA’s decision.
“Protecting children is a legal duty and a core responsibility of all mandated reporters,” said Police Chief Kevin Warych. “The Sun Prairie Police Department remains committed to accountability, transparency, and the safety of every child in our community.”
A report from an independent investigation recommended that the district review the leadership role of Ploeger, stating that she demonstrated “lapses in judgment.”
The report said lapses in judgment were more significant for Ploeger and Bridget Kotarak, director of school operations, than for Sadler and Nehemirah Barrett, who was an assistant principal. He is now the principal of Prairie Phoenix Academy.
The DA’s Office spokesperson said they had not received referrals for Kotarak or Barrett.
SPASD previously announced leadership changes involving Ploeger and Kotarak. Neither will return to working for the district. As of Tuesday, the district said Sadler and Barrett would return in their current roles. The district said Peg Shoemaker will continue to serve as interim principal at West High School. SPASD will start a formal search to fill the role in the spring.
At the time of publication, Sadler and Barrett were still listed on the district’s website.
The independent investigation, led by attorney Samuel C. Hall Jr., was requested by SPASD following criminal charges against Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier for inappropriate conduct with students. Gilkey-Meisegeier, 31, was the school’s dean of students. He is charged with 13 counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of child sexual exploitation.
In his opinion, Hall wrote, “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. Further, while I have levied criticism toward both (Nehemirah) Barrett (assistant principal,) and (Chris) Sadler (director of human resources) I also fully recognize that had Ploeger and/or Kotarak effectively performed their responsibilities, Barrett and Sadler very likely would have had different perspectives when they carried out their responsibilities.”
Gossip about an inappropriate relationship between Gilkey-Meisegeier and a student, identified as Student A, began during the 2023-2024 school year. School administration became aware of those rumors at that time. Ploeger first learned of the rumors from Gilkey-Meisegeier, who told her, “People are spreading rumors.” Gilkey-Meisegeier and the student denied allegations that their relationship was inappropriate.
Gilkey-Meisegeier, who served as a JV basketball coach, and Student A became close as she managed the team and spent time at practices.
Ploeger and Ed Ford, assistant principal, “concluded the rumors were retaliatory, stemming from a dispute between Student A and a rival group of girls,” the report stated.
No formal action was taken at the time, though Ploeger advised Gilkey-Meisegeier to keep his distance from Student A.
“Students were interviewed informally about the rumors by Ploeger and Assistant Principal Ed Ford, but students could not substantiate claims with any proof. No records were kept regarding these interviews. Ploeger never reviewed cameras, documents, or texts, as allegations were general and lacked specifics,” the report stated.
The rumors persisted in the 2024-2025 school year.
“However, each time the rumors would re-surface, Ploeger generally believed that the rumors would always link back to a group of students who had disputes with Student A,” the report stated.
The report said that Student A was so bothered by the rumors that they wanted to graduate early to avoid ongoing conflict.
In November 2024, a student who was not involved in prior rumors loudly alleged during a FaceTime call that Gilkey-Meisegeier had an inappropriate relationship with Student A. The incident was reported to Ploeger, who contacted Barrett to hand down a suspension to that student. Ultimately, the student received an in-school suspension for the remainder of the school day and an out-of-school suspension for the following day.
Leadership again advised Gilkey-Meisegeier to refrain from interacting with Student A.
According to the report, “While Ploeger initially maintained she had no involvement in the November 2024 suspension, text messages between Ploeger and Assistant Principal Nehemirah Barrett establish that Ploeger was actually directly involved in the suspension of the student in November of 2024.”
“According to Barrett, during that meeting, Ploeger insisted on a 2-day suspension for the student for spreading the rumors,” the report states.
Hall wrote, “I did not find Ploeger to be credible in any respect related to the November of 2024 suspension.”
Then, on April 3, 2025, an anonymous tip was submitted by a student, alleging grooming behavior by Gilkey-Meisegeier. The investigation found that the response to the tip was insufficient, with the Title IX implications not being fully recognized or investigated.
According to the report, Sadler was the first person involved with the allegations against Gilkey-Meisegeier when the April anonymous tip was received.
“Based on the totality of evidence, it appears that Sadler was primarily responsible for the investigation,” the report states.
Ploeger and other school leadership spoke briefly on the phone the morning of April 4, 2025, and immediately placed Gilkey-Meisegeier on administrative leave. Later that day, Sadler and Ploeger attempted to interview Student A. She was not in the building, so a call was placed to her mother. The mother expressed frustration that the rumors were still happening. Student A then got on the phone call and denied any inappropriate relationship.
“As part of the investigation, Ploeger took no investigative steps herself beyond participating in the telephone interview of Student A and her mother,” Hall stated in the report.
In April, Gilkey-Meisegeier was allowed to return from administrative leave and was back in school the next day after Sadler and Ploeger “concluded there was no evidence of grooming or misconduct beyond the policy violations of transporting a student without the proper documentation and texting outside of approved channels.”
At that time, Sadler also recommended corrective measures addressing transportation approval and approved apps.
A Sun Prairie police investigation found that Ploeger did not report the April incident to law enforcement or Dane County Human Services. Police say she was required to do so under Wisconsin law.
When a Snapchat video surfaced in May, Sadler terminated Gilkey-Meisegeier’s employment for failure to report misconduct and inappropriate online interactions. Meisegeier was arrested by police in July 2025.
In a separate incident in January 2025, police said there was an allegation involving a different teacher where multiple students saw the teacher engage in physical contact and sexual conversations involving students. Police said Ploeger investigated the complaints and the district initiated a Title IX investigation that was closed after the teacher resigned.
Police said during her investigation, she “characterized the physical contact as positive praise and did not disclose the full context of the reported conduct” to the school resource officer. Police said the victim chose not to pursue criminal charges against the teacher.
Ploeger was hired as the principal at Sun Prairie West in May of 2022. She is a former assistant principal at LaFollette High School in Madison.
Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown Partner Jason Luczak is the attorney representing Ploeger. During a Friday press conference, Luczak issued a statement, saying in part that Ploeger “completely cooperated” with the independent investigation.
“There was no finding of any criminal law violations,” Luczak said of the report. “Including any failures to report under the mandatory reporting laws.”
Luczak added that he disagreed with some of the findings in the report.
“I think the main thing in relation to any sort of criminal conduct that occurred on behalf of really anyone named in the report, they were completely cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in that report. And that was the conclusion. That’s what we agree with.”
Luczak said that he and Ploeger believe she’s being used as a “scapegoat” in the situation, given the public pressures being put on local police and the school district.