VILLAGE OF MUKWONAGO, WI— An ordinance allowing for police to write citations for students in school using a cell phone has been tabled indefinitely.
This comes after the Village of Mukwonago’s Committee of the Whole took comments from members of the community and parents of students who attend Mukwonago Area School District.
“I see zero connection between a school phone use policy and the health, safety, and welfare of the village.” said one parent.
Even village board trustees were not supportive of the ordinance being put into effect.
Village board trustee Ken Johnson told the board that such an ordinance would be a bit of an overstretch.
“In my years of service in law enforcement, I’ve never had any school policy that was backed up by a city ordinance,” said Johnson. “For that fact, I would not be in favor of putting this ordinance into our books.”
Board trustee Dale Porter said if the ordinance was to be enacted, it would only affect one student in the district.
“The school district’s view, after talking with Dr. Koch, is that the ordinance would maybe enlighten a parent and show them that the district is serious about the policy,” said Porter. “Yes, there is one student that would at this time receive a ticket. The district would feel that it would be better for that student to receive a ticket and maybe wake up the parent to get on board with school policies versus suspending or expelling the student.”
The ordinance was first proposed to the Committee of the Whole on November 20th, but no details were revealed as to how much a citation would cost a student.
After comments from the public and concerns from board members, the committee ultimately decided to table the proposal indefinitely.
