Parents are suing Milwaukee Public Schools to bring back school resource officers

Wisconsin parents are suing their district for failing to hire legally mandated school resource officers (SROs).

“I’m absolutely concerned for the safety of my children that attend MPS [Milwaukee Public Schools] with no security resource officers in the school,” Charlene Abughrin, one of the plaintiffs, told local media. “These are actual crimes that these kids are committing.

“They’re assaulting kids. They’re assaulting teachers, and they’re getting away with it.”

MPS originally cut ties with the Milwaukee Police Department in 2020, but a 2023 bill known as Act 12 required the district to rehire 25 SROs by January, which the district failed to do.

“Moving slowly on this, I think, is an indication of the thoughtfulness that’s going into this, but mostly the resistance that we’re being forced to do this,” MPS board member Marcela Garcia explained.

“I don’t say that we should not have an SRO program,” added another board member, Henry Leonard, “although I don’t personally want them in our buildings, if at all possible.”

But the need for SROs is crystal clear to many.

Last month, the Milwaukee Police Association reported being called to the city’s public schools over 3,000 times during the prior school year – an average of nearly 20 calls per school day. The district has about 68,000 students in 150 schools. 

“[Police are] getting taken out from other parts of the neighborhoods that are having other issues and then getting rerouted to go to all these schools,” explained the president of the police union, Alexander Ayala. “If we had school resource officers already in place, those school resource officers could be going to these calls instead of pulling from other districts or the districts that have limited staffing.” 

Leonard said the district and city are fighting over who pays for what, but also admitted the school board had only discussed the issue once since January. 

So parents are taking matters into their own hands by pressing a lawsuit.  

“Milwaukee families send their children to MPS with the expectation that their safety is an utmost priority,” said Lauren Greuel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), which is representing the plaintiffs. “Failing to provide SROs has left students vulnerable and has forced Milwaukee police officers – through 9-1-1 calls – to pick up the slack when schools need assistance. 

“MPS’ failure to follow this law harms the entirety of Milwaukee by not only disregarding the safety of students but also by draining the resources of MPD that are needed elsewhere.”