• A former Milwaukee Public Schools paraprofessional received a deferred plea agreement for slapping a special education student.
• Personnel records show the paraprofessional, Demitrios Visvardis, was accused of slapping another vulnerable student a year earlier.
• Milwaukee Public Schools did not report the first incident to the police, according to department records.

When family members of a special education student voiced displeasure with a deferred plea agreement for former MPS paraprofessional Demitrios Visvardis in February, they were told it was fair given his lack of prior offenses. 

Visvardis was charged with battery four months earlier in connection with an incident involving Shrone Dunn, 18, of Riverside High School. 

“This ain’t nothing but a slap on the wrist,” Tyrone Dunn, Shrone’s father, said during the plea hearing. “We’re looking for justice.” 

Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski assured Dunn of District Attorney Erin Karshen’s ability to fully prosecute based on what was known. 

But records obtained by the Journal Sentinel through an open records request raise questions about Visvardis’s history, and how much was known before the plea deal was reached. 

Visvardis has no prior criminal record, but documents in his personnel file at Milwaukee Public Schools reference a 2024 accusation that he struck a special education student. 

In a December 2025 letter filed after a disciplinary hearing, MPS hearing officer Natalie Fluker said the November 2025 incident involving Shrone Dunn was “the second time in a year that [Visvardis has] been accused of slapping a vulnerable student.” 

The letter references findings made by hearing officer Gary Johnson during disciplinary proceedings related to the 2024 incident. 

Earlier incident also involved slapping 

According to the December letter, another Riverside High School staff member expressed concern to Principal Jeff Lasky after witnessing Visvardis slap an intellectually disabled student on October 10, 2024. As with the incident involving Dunn, review of security footage confirmed the allegations.  

MILWAUKEE — This Fourth of July marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which created the United States of America.

In honor of that milestone, the Milwaukee County Historical Society is launching a new exhibit, “We the People: Milwaukee Stories of Immigration, Citizenship, and Community,” on June 12.

“This is the perfect opportunity to maybe tell a story that isn’t always told,” said Ben Barbera, executive director and president of the Milwaukee County Historical Society. “We can’t necessarily talk about the founding fathers. There weren’t many Revolutionary War battles here. But we can tell a story that is essential to the country.”

That story showcases the real people who came from all over the world for a better life — people who, over time, helped shape the country into what it is today.

The story starts with those who were here first.

“The Indigenous populations of Wisconsin, because without them being pushed out and forced out, we wouldn’t have immigration come to this space,” said Olivia Hoff, community programs manager for the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

The exhibit features photos and artifacts dating back centuries.

“This is a sewing kit that was made from clothing that was worn by people who came here from England,” said Janean VanBeckum, curator of the exhibit. “They were Puritans being persecuted. They came in, settled on the East Coast, and then their family moved here.”

Families from Germany, Poland, Italy and Ireland followed. Decades later, there was a surge of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and parts of Africa.

“When you start the exhibit, you get an identification card of an immigrant,” said VanBeckum. “It’s based on real immigrants, but not any particular person, and you can go around and choose your own adventure to kind of see what happens to your immigrant’s life as they move through the process of coming here and either becoming a citizen or not becoming a citizen.”

The experience includes audio recordings from people who immigrated to Milwaukee and their children.

“This is the humanistic story,” said Hoff. “It really generates empathy too because you are hearing it from the people themselves.”

The exhibit also highlights people who came to the Milwaukee area from within the United States. A major part of Milwaukee’s history is the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the Midwest in the mid-20th century. That history is documented in “We the People.”

Overall, the team at the Milwaukee County Historical Society hopes the new exhibit reminds people of their similarities and shared home as the nation turns 250.

“People can realize that everyone has a similar scope of their life and that we all may be struggling to fight some of the same battles, and that by working together, creating a civic discourse, we can be less divided.”