KENOSHA, Wis. — Parents at Tremper High School were alarmed this month when their children’s schedules showed Casey Cushman, 42, of Kenosha, assigned to teach welding despite his pending criminal case stemming from the June school-bus hit-and-run, his arrest for operating while intoxicated, longstanding allegations that he was intoxicated at school, and a prior workplace sexual-harassment investigation. Some parents told Kenosha County Eye they were prepared to keep their children home rather than send them into Cushman’s classroom. Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss now says Cushman is on unpaid leave and “will not be on school grounds,” but sources familiar with the situation tell KCE that a majority of the KUSD School Board currently opposes firing him.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
A screenshot provided to Kenosha County Eye from a student’s schedule listed “Cushman, Casey J” as the teacher for two consecutive Welding periods in Room 310. The discovery immediately raised questions among parents about whether Cushman was being returned to the classroom for the 2026-27 school year.
Kenosha County Eye contacted Weiss on Aug. 26 and specifically asked why Cushman appeared to be retained and what he would tell parents considering keeping their children home.
Weiss responded the following morning.
“Cushman is on unpaid leave pending board action and will not be on school grounds,” Weiss wrote.
Cushman is expected to resign from KUSD, according to sources. He may have already submitted his resignation, but the district has not confirmed that to Kenosha County Eye and has not provided transparency regarding whether a resignation has already been submitted or accepted.
Kenosha County Eye has also spoken with members of Cushman’s family who said Cushman went out of state for alcohol rehabilitation following his arrest. According to those family members, Cushman returned and began drinking again.
The unanswered question is what the School Board would have done if Cushman did not resign.
Sources familiar with discussions surrounding Cushman’s employment have told Kenosha County Eye that a majority of board members are opposed to terminating him. KCE has been told that Board members Sabrina Landry and Bob Tierney favor removing Cushman, while other members oppose firing him.
KCE has also been told that alcoholism being a disease has been raised in discussions as a reason Cushman should not be fired, despite the dangerous conduct alleged in the June 4 incident. No final public vote on Cushman’s employment has been taken.
The June incident was not merely an off-duty OWI.
As Kenosha County Eye previously reported, Cushman left Tremper High School on June 4 and was involved in a crash with a First Student school bus while 11 students were aboard.
According to the criminal complaint, school surveillance video showed Cushman leaving the school, getting into his Dodge Ram, driving over a curb and nearly striking a metal sign before striking the parked school bus.
After the collision, police said Cushman’s truck accelerated across a grass field, went over another curb and sidewalk area and continued southbound on 26th Avenue. Police noted that multiple students, pedestrians and other vehicles were in the area while the truck was being operated in what officers described as a reckless manner.
Police later located Cushman at his residence. Cushman admitted striking the school bus and told police he left because he was “scared.” He later explained that he was a Tremper teacher and was “embarrassed” because students would see him and make fun of him.
Officers described Cushman’s eyes as bloodshot and glassy. Cushman denied drinking alcohol or using narcotics but said he had taken Librium earlier that morning.
When asked whether the medication impaired him, Cushman reportedly said, “Uh, I don’t know. Yeah, just kind of slow.”
When an officer asked Cushman to rate his intoxication from one to 10, with 10 being blackout drunk, Cushman answered “three,” according to the complaint. Following field sobriety testing, Cushman was arrested for operating while impaired.
The Kenosha Police Department subsequently confirmed to KCE that Cushman was arrested and cited for hit-and-run, operating while intoxicated and reckless driving endangering safety. Police specifically confirmed that impairment was a factor and that Cushman was arrested for OWI.
Cushman was later formally charged with misdemeanor hit-and-run involving an attended vehicle.
The incident came after KCE had already received numerous reports from students, parents, current and former staff members and other members of the Tremper community alleging that Cushman being intoxicated at school was common knowledge.
Multiple Tremper community members told KCE that allegations of Cushman being intoxicated at school were widely known among students and staff. Personnel records obtained by KCE, however, have not established what district administrators knew about those allegations or when they knew it.
Cushman also had a significant workplace investigation in his recent employment history.
In October 2025, a female Tremper teacher accused Cushman of repeated sexually inappropriate behavior during a professional development session.
Among other allegations, the employee said Cushman repeatedly said “anal,” made sexually suggestive comments, smelled her pen, asked whether she was a “one hander or a two hander,” and ultimately slid the pen along her leg toward her groin while claiming he was trying to put it back in her pocket.
The employee said she texted a co-worker for help during the incident and reported what happened to administrators immediately afterward.
KUSD placed Cushman on paid administrative leave while Human Resources investigated.
Human Resources official Kevin Neir ultimately found insufficient evidence to substantiate the harassment complaint because other employees interviewed did not directly witness the alleged conduct.
Despite that determination, the district imposed significant restrictions when Cushman returned to Tremper. He was ordered not to speak with the complainant except during an emergency, to use a designated entrance and restroom, to remain separated from her during meetings and to stay out of her classroom unless directed by administration.
The employee appealed the decision, arguing that investigators failed to properly consider evidence including contemporaneous text messages, witnesses who observed her distress immediately afterward and notes allegedly recovered by administrators.
The appeal was submitted to Weiss. The district ultimately upheld the original finding that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the complaint.
Court records also show Cushman’s ex-wife obtained a harassment injunction against him in August 2025. Court filings in those proceedings contained separate allegations involving threats, intoxication and substance abuse. Those allegations were unrelated to both the workplace investigation and the June school-bus crash.
Against that history, some parents were surprised to open their children’s schedules for the new school year and see “Cushman, Casey J” assigned to teach Welding.
Some were prepared to keep their children home.
Weiss has now provided one definitive answer: Cushman will not be on school grounds while he is on unpaid leave pending board action.
Sources tell KCE that Cushman is expected to resign, and he may have already done so. The district, however, has not confirmed a resignation to KCE.
If Cushman resigns, the School Board may never have to publicly decide whether it would have fired him.
For now, questions remain about why Cushman appeared on student schedules in the first place, whether he has formally resigned, and why, according to sources, a majority of the School Board opposed terminating him after everything that preceded the new school year.
One Response
Unbelievable, this KUSD administration just constantly disappoints its citizens by making bad and stupid decisions regarding this teachers actions. Forget about how the students and parents feel about him, the large majority of the school board don’t care either! So tired of the nonsense that has been going on in our Kenosha schools!!!!