LA CROSSE (WKBT)— Josh Kaul, who is the attorney general of Wisconsin, wants to make schools safer. He went to Central High School today to talk to kids about what makes them think a school is safe.
Someone in the class said, “Our school police officer is here, and she does a great job.” It should be in every school, in my opinion. Not because it makes their school less safe, but because it’s a good person to talk to.
Kaul’s talk is one of many that the attorney general is having with kids across the state. It comes after threats at Burlington High School last week and Mount Horeb Middle School in May.
“We want to do everything we can to make our schools as safe as possible,” Kaul said. “For one thing that means looking at problems through different lenses.”
A more multifaceted method is shown by different lenses.
“You heard about Speak Up, Speak Out, a 24/7 tipline but also having training so that teachers are able to identify potential concerns or potential targeted violence,” he said.
Students also talked to the attorney general about things like vaping, bullying, and violence against people of color that they think make schools less safe.
Cassidy Burrill, a senior, says that one way to stop these problems is to make after-school clubs better, like the Hmong Club, the GSA, and Restorative Justice, a club that helps students who have behavior problems.
“We’ve talked about ways to improve those groups like making those clubs more accessible to everyone who wants to be in them or making restorative justice bigger or in more schools,” she added.
Burrill is glad that lawmakers like Kaul are going to listen to them.
It’s become very political to talk about school crime and mass violence in general. Burrill said, “It doesn’t always feel like people who argue about this are listening.” “I would just say it’s been really nice to part of a group that’s been directly asked about their experiences so that they can more effectively protect us.”