‘They’re breaking the law, plain and simple’: State senator calls out MPS [Video]
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‘They’re breaking the law, plain and simple’: State senator calls out MPS [Video]

The debate over police in Milwaukee Public Schools has returned. A new state law requires officers to return to the classroom. The district is now months behind in making that happen. When Gov. Tony Evers signed the shared revenue bill, or Act 12, into law in June 2023, the clock started ticking for MPS to put police officers, or school resource officers, back in its buildings. The school board voted to remove them in 2020 following protests. Act 12 required 25 officers to be in place by January 2024. That never happened. “It’s clear that they’re not going to be ready in time for the start of the school year. They’re breaking the law, plain and simple,” Sen. John Jagler, R-Watertown, said. The shared revenue law was designed so Milwaukee could raise its sales tax, with stipulations including school resource officers return to MPS. “They probably want more funding next session. Well, guess what? If you’re not following the law, how do you think we’re going to respond to that? How can we trust you with anything?” Jagler said. Alexander Ayala, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, said without resource officers in schools, calls for police keep coming. “Just from August of 2022 to December of 2022, we had 1,685 calls for service at MPS schools,” Ayala said. Ayala said officers are taken away from investigating other crimes to respond to the schools.”I don’t think this was their priority, even though, even though was state law,” Ayala said. Jagler pointed to a recent Milwaukee Press Club event with MPS School Board Vice President Jilly Gokalgandhi. Corrinne Hess of Wisconsin Public Radio asked Gokalgandhi if police officers would go back into schools this year. “We’re going to continue to focus on restorative justice as the main lever of serving our kids and 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,” Gokalgandhi said. “Is the state going to let you do that?” Hess asked. “I mean, you just said that they missed the deadline,” Gokalgandhi said.Jagler said that exchange is what got his attention.”I wrote a letter to MPS and said, ‘Where are we at on this? I mean, it’s the law. You were supposed to have this done in January,'” Jagler said. Jagler said MPS responded to him Tuesday. He shared the response with WISN 12 News. It reads, in part, “MPS has been in discussion with stakeholders, including student groups, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA), the Administrators and Supervisors Council (ASC), district staff, community members, and the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). The goal has been to develop a plan, in partnership with MPD, that redefines the previous role of the school resource officer in MPS. In addition to working with local stakeholders, MPS conducted site visits at public schools in Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; Fulton County, GA; and Bibb County, GA. During these visits, MPS representatives observed school resource officer programs that implement a variety of practices focused on improving relationships between schools, law enforcement, youth, and the greater community.””They dragged their feet. We asked them what happened, what they’ve been doing. And what they said they’ve been doing is sending taxpayer spending, sending employees on taxpayer dollars to other cities. How much did that cost?” Jagler said. WISN 12 News filed an open records request with MPS, inquiring about the cost of the trips. “What happens now that these policies have not been followed and that we’re not seeing school resource officers ready to be in the classroom yet?” WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys asked Jagler.”We have no enforcement mechanism as the legislature. That would be a question for the attorney general, for the governor. I don’t know what that is. I don’t know how we can make them do the right thing and follow the law,” Jagler said.MPS declined a WISN 12 News request for an on-camera interview Wednesday, but released a statement. “MPS’ goal is to have a plan that redefines the previous role of the school resource officer by balancing the requirements of the state with a focus on restorative and responsive culture in our schools.”The district has worked on this plan extensively over the past few months. We continue to collaborate with stakeholders, including the Milwaukee Police Department, to complete a proposal that will meet the requirements of the state and serve our students.”There is an MPS school board meeting Thursday, where an update on the matter is on the agenda.

Shane Beamer previews South Carolina’s season opener [Video]
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Small Business Lifestyle

Shane Beamer previews South Carolina’s season opener [Video]

Great respect for Old Dominion and their program obviously very familiar with them growing up in, in Virginia and, uh, recruiting up there for so long. They’re located in *** hotbed of recruiting in that part of the country. Uh, they’ve got good players. There’s no question about it. You look back at last year, they easily could have been ***, an 11 win team. They had five losses last year by six points or less. So they very easily could be *** team that we’re sitting here talking about, uh, an 11 win team that was in the mix for, um, uh, New Year’s Six bowl game or whatever it was called last year. We as coaches know that it’s still gonna be *** lot on Saturday, but absolutely, with Leno’s demeanor, he gives you ***, *** quiet confidence where the moment’s never too, uh, too big for him. That’s the way he handles himself and, and *** lot of the, you know, really good quarterbacks that I’ve been around. I’m not comparing them to Jalen Hurtz, but Jalen in Oklahoma, Jalen was that way. I mean, he was all the time and, uh, and he, and that’s the way that he, the way that he played Spencer, I mean, showed emotion, but Spencer never got too high, too low. So I think it’s *** great quarterback to have *** great quality to have not just in *** quarterback but any leader in my mind. There’s days, this is year 26 25 26 in coaching for me. And, uh, there have been preseason camps where you could say, ok, we maybe took *** step back today or we didn’t have *** great day today and, and whatnot. I don’t remember ever walking off the field this month and saying, you know what, we didn’t have the day that we needed to. Was it always perfect? No, was it? But the effort was always there, the intensity was there and just the way they, uh the way they handled their business just on and off the field, they’re really, really, really fun group to coach and just, um they don’t, best thing I can say is they just don’t waste days, you know, we had *** mock game week last week and I thought we went out last week and had 34 amazing days of practice. We do *** situational practice on the Friday before the first game or two Fridays before. So Friday afternoon, we went in the stadium about four o’clock and went through just ***, *** script of all the situations that can happen. And we did that at *** faster pace than we ever have in my four years as the head coach, which to me means they’re locked in, they’re focused, they’re paying attention, they’re getting their work done and we’re getting off the field just things like that. Uh.