MILWAUKEE — After over 10 months of non-compliance with Act 12, the Milwaukee Public School board of directors held a listening session that lasted almost two hours.
The law, that went into effect at the start of 2024 requires the district to have no less than 25 school resource officers.
Many of the people who spoke out, were against the state requirement and called for the district to ignore it.
"As a collective, it would be great to show how the students view things how it would impact these students and just how they're opposed to it and how they know overall," said Jackson Thao, an MPS junior.
MPS has faced public scrutiny and a lawsuit for not having the program in place this year. In an email to TMJ4 Tuesday afternoon, a district spokesperson reiterated what they'd said before.
"MPS is ready to implement an SRO program as soon as officers are made available."
Watch: Dozens share their thoughts on MPS's delay in implementing the SRO program
They say they are still negotiating a key aspect, who will pay for the officers. The city of Milwaukee insists MPS should pay for the SROs.
MPS parent and teacher Ingrid Walker-Henry argues implementing the SRO program and having MPS pay for it would further hamper the district's financial situation.
"Instead what we get is a law that is telling us that we have to police our Black and Brown children in our schools and that infuriates me," Walker-Henry said.
Retired police officer and parent Malcolm Hunt supports having officers in school buildings to respond when necessary.
MPD data shows in the fall of 2022, MPS called MPD more than 700 times.
"Like I said again, that's not gonna stop if you don't put them in the school," Hunt said. "They're going to be calling for officers to come to the school."
The district still had no answers on when the SRO program would begin, only saying they are awaiting new guidance from the city's attorney's office before moving forward.
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