Through your WCRIS Board member, WCRIS recently shared with you the list of private schools that were not in compliance with state safety requirements as documented by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety (OSS).
Upon further investigation, the situation is much more complex and schools are being incorrectly labeled. Thanks to WCRIS’ intervention, the DOJ said it will remedy the problem.
In many cases, schools on the list have submitted most or all of the required items for their annual school safety plan filing, but still received a “non-compliance” status. Or, they submitted everything except the local law enforcement letter because the police have declined to get involved.
Therefore, the DOJ’s “non-compliant” designation is an inaccurate representation of a school’s safety plan. The DOJ agreed Wednesday and promised to change the way it talks about safety plans.
The Bottom Line: The DOJ agrees that the safety of a school is not simply reflected in what is or is not uploaded to the state Office of School Safety.
Background: This misleading list is being used by the press to create false narratives that these schools are disregarding state safety requirements and are therefore unsafe.
As you can imagine, this has caused concern in parents. Some WCRIS schools have included a memo in their newsletters to clarify the issue with their school families.
Earlier this week, WCRIS requested that OSS address the issue and correct the mislabeling and solicit law enforcement engagement, which they have promised to do.
As WCRIS suggested, the DOJ says it will notify schools of what, if anything, is still needed to comply with the law and keep children safe, which is everyone’s ultimate goal.
The agency has added staff. Its director said they will be contacting every school to assist in completing its safety plan filing.
Watch Current Events for updates.
