All Wisconsin schools to have secure entrances by fall with $30 million in grants, Attorney General Brad Schimel says

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said the state will use $30 million in grants to ensure that by fall all Wisconsin schools are using a single secure entrance and other basic safeguards.

Speaking at St. Dennis Catholic school here Wednesday, the Republican attorney general said by mid-June he wants to award the first round of school safety grants, which could go to thousands of public and private schools.

Thousands of Milwaukee students, adults and community advocates for change participate in March For Our Lives, part of other marches across the country to pressure for gun measures following the Parkland, FL shootings.

Schimel, who has been tasked with distributing $100 million for school safety, said he wants to finish the most-needed school upgrades by this fall.

“We need to get every school to a baseline,” Schimel said. "Our hope is that we can get the grant (awards) to schools in time to have construction happen over the summer."

In response to school shootings around the country, Gov. Scott Walker signed the school safety package last month. In pushing the legislation, Walker and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature opted for upgrading school buildings and training teachers and staff over putting tighter restrictions on guns.

The school safety grants have been uncontroversial but even their supporters acknowledge a more secure building doesn't address all the potential threats to students and teachers.

For instance, a then-Wauwatosa East High School freshman was taken into custody in January after telling classmates that he planned to call in a bomb threat and then use a family shotgun to shoot classmates as they exited the building.

The district School Board has called for a number of bills in response, including mental health funding for schools and waiting periods and universal background checks for gun purchases. The district also wants lawmakers to make it a potential felony to spread false information about the use of a weapon to hurt or kill someone on school property.

“The bill approved (last month) is a start, but it’s too soft on school shooter threats, too narrow in scope, and not urgent or serious enough to address the danger," School Board President Shawn Rolland said in a statement at the time. "A person who threatens to shoot up a school can still walk our streets after a slap-on-the-wrist 72-hour detention."

Schimel said the Department of Justice started accepting grant requests from schools Tuesday afternoon and had already received its first one. Schools will receive awards in the coming weeks but won't get the money up front — the state will reimburse them after they pay for upgrades and training.

The attorney general said he was committed to getting at least some money to each of the 3,100 public and private schools in Wisconsin that meet basic requirements. But that money only works out to $32,300 per school, which Schimel said wouldn't cover all of their needs.

The money can't be used for weapons, body armor, vehicles or salaries, though schools can use it to train staff to spot mental illness and react to threats.

To receive a grant, schools will have to ensure that by June 2019 all teachers and staff have at least three hours of training in how trauma and other difficult life events can affect students.

The first category of grants will focus on basic safety steps such as making sure all classroom doors have locks and school entrances have glass that can resist shattering after being shot.

Schimel said he wanted schools to have one locked entrance monitored by staff rather than multiple entryways through which outsiders could come and go at will. Schools could also seek grants for alarms that would sound when someone from inside the school propped open an emergency exit.

St. Dennis Principal Matt Beisser said Wednesday he had several basic safeguards he wanted to install in his 60-year-old building, including adding shatterproof glass on the school entrance and making it easier for teachers to quickly lock their classrooms from the inside.

The Rev. Randy Timmerman, parish priest for St. Dennis, said staff has been getting numerous questions from parents about safety for the school's 270 students from prekindergarten to eighth grade.

"How can we not?" Timmerman said. "It's a huge priority for parents."

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Wisconsin Association of School Boards lobbyist Dan Rossmiller said he believed school districts would be able to meet the requirements for staff training on trauma and do some of the upgrades over the summer.

Schools that meet basic safety criteria could also apply for additional grants for expenses like video cameras and training staff. Schimel said that was important to avoid penalizing schools that have already invested in basic safety precautions.

Beisser said his school has cameras inside the building but would like to install them outside, as well.

Schimel said that the grant applications from districts could be subject to the open records law but the Department of Justice wouldn't release information that could be used to plan an attack on a school.

"We don't want someone to be able to find our what their shortcomings are," he said of schools.