As I See It
School safety should not be a partisan issue
Some issues just shouldn’t be victim of partisan politics. Near the top of that list is school safety. Republicans or Democrats, we should all be willing to take the steps necessary to ensure our children are kept safe while at school. One way that has been done in Wisconsin is through a school safety tip line called Speak Up, Speak Out. It is available 24/7 for students to call about issues related to school safety. Operating since 2018, this hotline has received more than 7500 calls from students concerned about school safety. They are reporting things like threats to their school, or threats of suicide, as well as depression and anxiety. More than 100 of the calls have detailed concerns about possible school shootings. But Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature ignored Governor Evers request to continue to fund the hotline, and allocated no money for it, so it was set to expire. Now, the Department of Justice has allocated federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act to keep the hotline going through the end of the next school year. That is reassuring for the safety of Wisconsin’s schools. But our lawmakers should agree on the importance of school safety, and provide the money necessary to keep the hotline going when they craft the next state budget. School safety should not be a partisan issue.
Sunbeam
August 18, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Are we to believe Gov Evers couldn’t find the $ somewhere else?
But the La Crosse School District is so concerned about safety they cut their budget for school resource officers.
walden
August 20, 2023 at 8:30 pm
Lets see, 7500 calls to the hot line since 2018 is about 1,875 per year statewide.
Meanwhile, in the La Crosse School District alone there are almost 1,000 calls for police assistance each school year.
Yet the District Superintendent chose to cut school resource officer funding. As is the case for much of the La Crosse School District management, reducing resource officers makes no sense.