Milwaukee school resource officers; city leaders on cusp of deal
SROs in Milwaukee schools, deal almost done
The City of Milwaukee is on the cusp of approving a school resource officer (SRO) deal – and it is 14 months later than Wisconsin law required.
MILWAUKEE - The City of Milwaukee is on the cusp of approving a school resource officer (SRO) deal – and it is 14 months later than Wisconsin law required.
SROs in Milwaukee Public Schools
What we know:
A new law required Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to have 25 school resource officers in place by January 2024. Later that same year, the city and MPS were sued – and then a judge stepped in with deadlines that were also missed.
Milwaukee Common Council members have a lot of questions about the proposed deal. They met behind closed doors on Monday, March 3 with the city attorney and the Milwaukee Police Department.
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS)
On Tuesday, March 4, the full Common Council will vote on whether to approve the SRO agreement with MPS. It says both parties do not want SROs enforcing MPS school rules – and that means training MPS staff to know when a problem rises to the level of asking an SRO to help.
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The City of Milwaukee is on the cusp of approving a school resource officer (SRO) deal – and it is 14 months later than Wisconsin law required.
The deal says the SROs are not to appear to be speaking on behalf of the district – and they are to wear the MPD uniform.
Milwaukee Police Department
Remember, these are different governmental bodies with different budgets – the city and the school district. The agreement formalizes what the judge ordered, that both governments will pay half the cost for the 25 school resource officers.
Sticking point
The sticking point for month has been – who was going to pay? State law said the city and district would agree to what it calls an apportionment of the costs.
They were a year late meeting the state law deadline of January 2024. So then a judge in 2025 ordered both governments to pay half the cost for the 25 school resource officers.
Confronting the mayor
What they're saying:
"The judge really blasted the city and and the police chief. He blasted your administration. He said there was no urgency on behalf of he the city," said FOX6's Jason Calvi during an interview with Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
"Well, that’s just not true. And unfortunately, the judge was not in the room in Madison. He said a lot of things. He said I had the power to negotiate better in Act 12 and all this and I could have done this and all that, he wasn’t in the room. He just wasn’t. He doesn’t know that and that’s not the fact," Johnson said.
"It has to pass, as a practical matter. It’s state law. It’s unfortunate it’s taken us a year and a half to get here. Because this all could have been done in the fall of 2023, clearly," said Milwaukee Alderman Bob Bauman.
"I’m glad the judge lit a fire under the city’s feet, under the school district’s feet," said Milwaukee Alderman Peter Burgelis.
SRO staffing locations
What we know:
One key question that has been asked over and over – where will officers be stationed?
The proposed deal says SROS "will be assigned to specific regions throughout the District to ensure coverage of MPS schools and to allow the officers to collaborate regularly at schools agreed upon between MPS and MPD."
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Training is already scheduled for MPS the week of March 10 – and the deal says some MPS security supervisors are to go through the same training.
The Source: The information in this post was produced with updates from a Common Council committee, its key players as well as previous FOX6 News coverage.