Throughout high school, Amanda Watzka and David Heisel would go on long drives across Oconto County.
Heisel would stroke Watzka’s hand and talk about his family’s wealth. He would let her know he could protect her once they were finally together.
Watzka and Heisel were not teenage sweethearts — Watzka was a 15-year-old technical education student at Oconto Falls High School, and Heisel was her teacher.
Watzka considered Heisel a mentor, a friend and, in some ways, her boyfriend.
Now that she’s in her 30s and has a daughter of her own, Watzka believes she was groomed by Heisel for years.
When Watzka talks about how the relationship went from grooming to an alleged sexual assault her junior year of high school, her reaction is physical.
According to a federal complaint and police reports, in 2012 Heisel sexually assaulted Watzka during a Skills USA competition at Chula Visa Resort in Wisconsin Dells.
“It’s hard to talk about. It’s hard,” Watzka said, rocking back and forth and patting her left arm. “I don’t know that I’ve fully processed that yet. I know what has happened. It is that he did not stop.”
In March 2026, Watzka and two other former students filed a federal complaint against the Oconto Falls School District alleging school officials ignored ongoing grooming and sexual abuse.
The complaint has since grown to include more than a dozen former students, teachers and parents connected to the Oconto Falls School District who allege that for 35 years educators and school board members were aware of sexual misconduct in all forms — whether perpetrated by teachers against students, by students against other students, or by staff against staff — but practiced “deliberate indifference.”
The complaint is one of the largest cases dealing with student sexual assault in Wisconsin, said Chicago attorney Cass Casper, who is representing the former students.
The complaint includes seven plaintiffs and 19 sworn affidavits to support their allegations.
The complaint names 12 staff members as alleged perpetrators going back to the early 1990s.
“I’ve never seen facts like this, ever, in my practice,” Casper said. “There are all of these people, staff members, students reporting it. The scope of this suit, and the number of witnesses who have come forward, reflects a severe problem in how the district responds to these situations.”
West Bend attorney Ron Stadler is representing the school district. Stadler did not return requests from WPR for comment.
“Teachers who engage in sexual misconduct should face consequences — the loss of their employment, criminal prosecution and civil liability for the damages they cause,” Stadler’s motion to dismiss says. “In the context of sexual misconduct, a school district is not liable for the bad actor’s conduct.”
Under state law, all school employees are mandated reporters who are legally required to report suspected child abuse or neglect, including sexual abuse.
According to state guidelines, school staff must “learn to recognize manipulation and grooming by adults and peers and to communicate those concerns to appropriate authorities such as school leadership per school policies. In plain language, grooming is a process where a maltreater gains trust, builds rapport and compliance, and ensures secrecy of a child with the intent to be sexually abusive.”
School staff and other mandated reporters who knowingly fail to report abuse can face criminal charges and the loss of professional licenses.
Victims say abuse happened over years
Watzka graduated from Oconto Falls High School in January 2013. She returned in May 2013 to walk with her class and receive her diploma.
Watzka said she left school early to get away from Heisel, who was in his mid-30s at the time.
Her teacher and alleged sexual abuser was many things to Watzka, who excelled in his class.
Throughout high school, Heisel invited Watzka on weekly drives to his job sites, restaurants, his house and his grandmother’s house.
During these trips, Heisel discussed what life would be like with Watzka, who was a teenager. He asked her about her sexual experience, while discussing his marriage and complaining his wife had cheated on him, according to the federal complaint.
Heisel told Watzka he could marry her and take care of all her problems. He sang to her and made romantic comments. He also engraved his initials after Watzka’s name on her tools.
Then in spring 2012, when Heisel took students to the Dells for the annual Skills Competition, he allegedly escalated his behavior.
According to the complaint, Heisel went into Watzka’s hotel room. She felt threatened and went into the hallway. He followed her into the hotel stairway, where he allegedly accused her of being a tease, partially undressed and forcibly kissed and fondled her.
“Amanda always remembered the facts of what occurred between her and Heisel,” the complaint says. “However, due to her youth, Heisel’s manipulation, and the grooming process, she did not understand until March and April 2025 that Heisel’s conduct was predatory, criminal, and constituted actionable civil wrongs.”
Watzka said she continued to confide in Heisel even after the assault because she felt like he had always been there for her.
Child sexual grooming is a complex and deceptive process that masquerades as trust-building or mentorship, according to the National Children’s Alliance. It is estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys have experienced child sexual abuse.
“The way I look at it is I’ve lived a very hard life,” Watzka said. “From what I’ve experienced and what I’ve reflected on, I don’t think that victims can come forward until they’re safe enough to do so.”
That safety came last year, once Watzka was married to her second husband and had three children.
In March 2025, Watzka, now 31, sent Heisel a text that was different from any type of contact they had previously had.
“I didn’t realize how incredibly messed up it was until I had my own daughter,” Watzka wrote. “Now that I’ve accepted it for what it is, I’m ready to share it openly so that I can move forward with my life and in hopes to prevent you from doing it to anyone else.”
According to a police report filed in April 2025, Heisel showed his co-workers at Oconto Falls High School the text messages and asked them what he should do.
They told him to get a lawyer.
Heisel did not respond to phone calls and text messages from Wisconsin Public Radio. His attorney, Clarence Duchac III, did not return multiple requests for comment from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Heisel has never been criminally charged.
The Oconto Falls district did not respond to requests for information on the status of Heisel’s employment.
However, Heisel surrendered his teacher’s license to the Department of Public Instruction on March 31, 20 days after being named in the civil rights complaint against the Oconto Falls School Board.
During an interview in March with WPR, Oconto Falls Superintendent Stuart Russ said the plaintiffs had been making “substantial monetary demands” on the school district since August 2025.
Russ referred all questions for this story to the school district’s attorney, who has not responded to requests for comment.
The Oconto Falls School District’s office is located across the street from a church, overlooking the high school football field. (Angela Major | WPR)
