MILWAUKEE — As suspensions increase in Milwaukee Public Schools, Student Resource Officers are still waiting to be implemented in these schools. Institute for Reforming Government’s Quinton Klabon joined WTMJ’s Political Power Hour to discuss why the process is being stalled.
Klabon said the original deadline to decide on implementing 25 SROs into Milwaukee Public Schools was January 1st. He went to the latest MPS Board meeting on February 29th to see what they’re doing about the endeavor.
“[They said], ‘We’re working on it,'” he said. “‘We went to Washington D.C., we went to Atlanta, we asked what they’re doing, we talked to students and… we’re working on it.'”
Klabon said the process of implementing SROs in schools lies on more than just the school administrators such as superintendents to get the job done.
“The board are the ones who make a lot of these decisions. They have private, off-the-record conversations as wells as those public meetings,” he said. “I think as the [school board] elections come up it’s important for people to ask those questions on what’s going on in the district.”
He explained that although SROs won’t fix every problem in the schools, there are three reasons why people would want them in schools right now. The first is increased violence in schools.
“Milwaukee Public Schools has about 8 percent of the total [amount] of public school students in the state… [MPS] has 13% of the assaults, so fights… and then, we have 20% of the weapon suspensions, so that could be knives, that could be guns,” he said.
A lack of staffing is another one of the major reasons, and Klabon said that’s mainly due to the allocation of funds being spent in MPS. The last main reason is the overall increase in suspensions. He revealed that MPS suspensions are up 25 percent in 2024.
“High school suspensions are not at that much… they’re at 12 percent, which is alarming but not horrific. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade are up massively [at] 28 percent,” he said. “Third, fourth, and fifth graders are up 65 percent.”
He said Milwaukee has gotten in trouble with the Federal Government in the past over suspensions because schools aren’t allowed to suspend students beyond the demographics of the school.
“So if you have 50 percent boys, you’re not allowed to suspend 75 percent boys. If you have 50 percent black students, you’re not allowed to suspend 75 percent black students,” he said.
He said if schools are deciding on whether to suspend a student or not, it all should depend on the situation.
“My mother was a special education teacher in Wisconsin Rapids her entire life. She knew the difference… she kind of knew the good habits of standing next to a student that’s being disruptive, just kind of letting them know you know they’re being disruptive… versus my mom had a phone thrown at her. That’s a different situation,” he said “Being able to judge the difference between those is really important.”
Depending on the schools, Klabon said it’s also important to know about the root causes of why these students may be disruptive.
“If you have students who can’t read and are disengaged from classes, which we know happens too often in all of Milwaukee [and] not just the public schools,” he said. “I think you end up with these middle schoolers and high schoolers who just don’t feel like school matters to them because they’ve never been able to engage with it.”
