Five Kewaskum High School volleyball seniors walked away from their team in the middle of the season, telling the school board that their coaching staff created a toxic environment that harmed their mental health. The players and their parents aired their concerns directly to the board, describing years of strain that came to a head after the head coach allegedly told the girls they had evil inside them.
Camilla Kreif, a senior at Kewaskum High School, said she and four other volleyball seniors quit after the coach made the remark in early October, as detailed by TMJ4 News. Kreif told the station the coach said, “Telling us that we have evil inside of us, that our parents should be ashamed of us.” She called the comment the final straw after what she and her teammates described as a long-running pattern of mistreatment.
Years of Tension Before the Walkout
Kreif, her four teammates and their parents told the board the athletes had been dealing with a toxic environment for multiple years under the current head coach, not just this season. Kreif said the volleyball staff caused irreparable damage to her and her teammates, and added that respect is not being reciprocated within the administration. According to the TMJ4 report, she hopes the public attention will make a difference for future student athletes, saying if the issue is swept under the rug it will continue to happen.
Parent Lisa Cannestra, whose daughter was one of the seniors who quit, told the board the administration needs to make a change. She said her family followed the process, raised safety concerns and asked for help, but did not receive the support they requested. Cannestra said she believes the seniors were punished for pushing back against the coach's treatment.
Suspension Followed a Shared Recording
Cannestra said the seniors were placed in in-school suspension for one day and questioned inappropriately by staff after they shared a recording of the coach taken from their phones. She told the board that students, employees, parents and community members should not have to fear speaking up, and that district actions should support the positive culture the district says it promotes.
The head of the Kewaskum school board and the superintendent declined to speak on camera when approached by the station. The athletic director and head coach had not responded to questions emailed by TMJ4 News by the time of publication, and neither has been named in reporting on the dispute.
What Wisconsin Law Requires on Bullying Complaints
State law lays out specific steps districts must follow once a bullying complaint surfaces. Per the Wisconsin Legislature, districts are required to have a procedure that identifies the employee responsible for investigating reports and mandates notifying the parent or guardian of every pupil involved.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association's sportsmanship code frames the coaching role itself as an educational one, stating that the function of a coach is to educate students through interscholastic competition and that programs should enhance academic achievement. Disputes over whether that standard is being met have surfaced elsewhere in recent months. In New Jersey, a Hunterdon Central volleyball coach was not voted back into his role after a six-hour meeting that included pleas from parents and players, according to nj.com. More than a dozen student athletes and parents in Carson City separately raised concerns about a cross-country coach's conduct with their own school board, as reported by Carson Now.
No disciplinary findings or decisions about the Kewaskum coaching staff have been announced, and the date of the school board meeting where the players and parents spoke has not been reported. For now, Kreif and her teammates are left hoping the board acts on what they shared.
