Ex-cop Glenn Rehberg must dole out $100 million as Wisconsin school safety czar

As a middle school band director in the early 1990s, Glenn Rehberg learned quickly how to turn chaos into a melody.

"You give 40 kids noisemakers and then just try to keep a herd on that. It was a lot of fun. I had great kids," he said.

Rehberg's organizational skills will be put to the test as interim director of the Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of School Safety.

Essentially, Rehberg is the state's school safety czar, responsible for helping allocate $100 million in grants for building improvements and staff training.

He has a background as a teacher and a cop and has also written a book on how to handle and use a handgun.

"The beauty of this position is that it has no other responsibility except trying to make kids and schools safer," Rehberg said during an interview.

Rehberg said his role isn't intended to be "the guru" but to bring organizations, people and best ideas together to improve school safety.

"We hope to get the $100 million distributed as quickly as possible," he said.

The initiative is Wisconsin's response to the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead and spearheaded a national debate on guns and school safety.

The bill creating the Wisconsin program sped through the Legislature, where it received bipartisan support. Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill into law late last month.

Rehberg, a 10-year DOJ veteran, was appointed by Attorney General Brad Schimel to run the office.

"Glenn has been training law enforcement and citizens including people involved in education for years on safety issues," Schimel said. "He understands how to make physical facilities, a building, safe from an attack. He understands what people inside need to do to keep themselves safe. He is a great choice to work on this project. He can hit the ground running fast."

Schimel said he is determined to begin awarding grants by mid-June so improvements can be made in time for the next school year.

The grants will focus on training staff in Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Informed Care, and improving the physical safety of schools with such items as door locks, shatter-resistant glass and alarm systems. Grant applicants will be required to partner with law enforcement agencies.

"Infrastructure without staff training is an incomplete picture. We need to have a comprehensive approach," Rehberg said.

With his wife a teacher and their two children in public elementary school, Rehberg at 48 brings a diverse background to the job.

A trombone player, he got his undergraduate degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

But even in college, he had an interest in serving the public, signing up as a volunteer firefighter and later as an EMT for a private ambulance service. Later, he helped manage a private ambulance for service.

Following his stint as a band director in the Palmyra-Eagle Area School District, he realized his heart was in emergency services. After attending a police academy part-time, he worked as a private cop for several years and then was on the Reedsburg force for 10 years.

Currently, he works part-time on two forces, pulling a shift or two a month to as many as eight shifts.

As a police officer, he liked "the unpredictability of it all," and helping people in their most dire times.

He began his association with DOJ by helping to run the website for the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Network. Later, he moved into a position in the training and standards bureau.

In the position, he worked on training materials and such issues as use of force, tactics and medical care. He also coordinated the handgun qualification course and the DOJ concealed carry curriculum.

In 2007, he published a book "Defensive Handgunning: A Treatise on Handgun Carry and Use." He wrote that the book was an "attempt to describe a systematic, comprehensive approach to fighting with a handgun."

The book focused on safety, basic elements of handgun use, including ways to carry a weapon, tactics and the mental preparation needed to win an encounter.

"Unlike many other books about handguns, this one begins with a discussion of the critical skills necessary to put bullets into a target," he wrote.

One phrase in the book he acknowledges he should have avoided is " 'Mexican' carry," which he said he now understands might offend some people.

He said the phrase was part of the vernacular "back in the day when I wrote the book," but now he would describe the practice of tucking a gun in a waistband or belt as "holsterless carry."

He declined to discuss his views on concealed carry as it relates to schools.

"That topic doesn't add to making our schools safe in an immediate manner," he said.

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Nonetheless, Scot Ross of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said he believes Rehberg and Schimel ultimately will promote the "idea that guns in schools is the solution" to the problem of school shootings.

Rehberg said his focus is to work with school districts, staff and law enforcement to make schools safer.

He said he has no doubt that the $100 million in grants will make a difference across the state.

"Training for a teacher lasts the length of their career. That's a long-term investment," he said. "Investment in the infrastructure of a building ... that can have a profound impact a decade from now."