Tim Ryan tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
The state Department of Public Instruction confirmed Thursday that questions surrounding the administrative license of Bonduel Elementary School Principal Brad Grayvold have been resolved.
The DPI sent a letter to Grayvold on Feb. 14 stating that the investigation into issues related to his licensing had been concluded and that the license he was issued in 2017 remains valid.
The Shawano Leader requested documentation of the DPI’s decision several weeks ago and was finally provided with the letter to Grayvold on Thursday.
There had been no disruption to Grayvold’s job duties while the investigation was going on.
The investigation was the result of a Leader report in June that Grayvold was convicted of domestic violence in Michigan in 2010 after an altercation on school property. Records of the case show that Grayvold was found guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence and served a year on probation. After the probation, the case was expunged from his record.
The DPI investigation that started in July found that Grayvold failed to disclose a plea of guilty or no contest to domestic violence that followed a physical confrontation with his wife at Norway School in Norway, Michigan, in August 2010. The plea was part of a deferred prosecution agreement.
Grayvold notified the Michigan Department of Education of the plea when it occurred, but left it off of his Wisconsin DPI application.
Grayvold originally applied for a Wisconsin license with the DPI in January 2017. The license was granted in February 2017.
The DPI informed Grayvold on Dec. 20 that the license was issued in error because Grayvold did not disclose the plea agreement or the deferred prosecution on his Competency and Conduct form.
Grayvold had the option of either requesting a hearing to challenge the DPI decision, or submit a new application that included the information he previously failed to disclose.
Grayvold submitted a new application.
“Based on your submission of a corrected Conduct and Competency form, the retroactive denial of your administrator license has been rescinded,” the DPI stated in its letter to Grayvold. “Your Wisconsin administrator license is valid and shows no lapse in its validity since its issuance in 2017.”
Grayvold has previously said he believed he was truthful on his original license application because he believed the domestic violence case constituted neither an investigation nor a conviction.
Bonduel School District Superintendent Patrick Rau said in June he was aware that Grayvold had a troubled past. Although Rau would not elaborate, he said he had shared everything he knew with school board members before they voted to hire Grayvold.
Rau said the district had done its own background check on Grayvold and found nothing that would disqualify him from consideration for the principal job.
Grayvold, a longtime school teacher and principal in Norway, Michigan, was hired from a pool of 42 applicants as principal of Bonduel Elementary School, a position that pays $82,500 a year to oversee about 300 students.
He was hired June 12 and began work effective July 1.