Republican senator frustrated with no officers in MPS

(The Center Square) – State Sen. John Jagler is frustrated Milwaukee Public Schools seems to be ignoring the state law that requires police officers in the city’s schools. But, he doesn’t expect any changes either.

Jagler, R-Watertown, last week wrote a letter to the MPS board, asking when the city’s schools plan to follow the law and return school resource officers to their buildings.

Republican lawmakers included the school resource officer in 2023’s shared revenue deal. It required MPS to add 25 officers by Jan. 1. That didn’t happen.

“Now, I know it didn't get done fast enough last year. And to be honest, I kind of, to be fair, just kind of assumed it would be done in August of this year,” Jagler said on News Talk 1130 WISN on Tuesday.

Jagler said he realized that Milwaukee Public Schools may never return the officers to their buildings after hearing MPS school board vice president Jilly Gokalghandi dismiss a question about officers in schools during a question-and-answer session last month.

“We're going to continue to focus on restorative justice as the main lever of serving our kids,” Gokalghandi said. “So that is my commitment. I've said that. I've gone on record and said that over and over again. And so that is what I will focus on.”

Jagler said he was taken back by Gokalghandi’s dismissive attitude.

“Yeah, ‘chuckle, chuckle, chuckle, we're breaking state law, and we don't care.’ That just infuriated me. And not just the answer, which I guess I appreciate the honesty, but the just a flippant nature of it,” Jagler added.

There is no way for the legislature to force MPS to return school resource officers to its schools. The shared revenue law doesn’t include any punishments. Jageler said neither Gov. Tony Evers nor Wisconsin’s attorney general will “touch” the law to enforce it.

But, Jagler said, MPS may be creating a bigger problem by thumbing their nose at the law.

“What it's going to do, going forward, as we look at anything with MPS, [maybe a] bailout with new funding, how can we trust them to do anything?” Jagler asked.

Jagler said MPS responded to his letter with a promise to have an update on its school resource officer program at this week’s school board meeting. But he said the district isn’t promising to actually return officers to school anytime soon.

“‘We have been in discussions with stakeholders, including the teachers union, and the police department the goal to develop a plan in partnership with MPD which redefines the previous role of school resource officers,” Jagler read from MPS’ response to his letter.