SOUTH MILWAUKEE — For the Dane County community of Mount Horeb, Thursday was a day to heal and support one another. That's after an armed student was shot and killed outside Mount Horeb Middle School on Wednesday.
The Superintendent of the Mount Horeb School District is crediting the community's support for recent referendums, which helped install safety measures around the district, possibly preventing yesterday's tragedy from escalating.
TMJ4's new special reporting team, Lighthouse, is shining the light on how recent referendums are helping keep kids safe in our area. TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins spoke with a local school district superintendent and with a voter about the importance of funding school security.
"These situations rattle our sense of safety and are cause for alarm," said Deidre Roemer, Superintendent of the School District of South Milwaukee. "First and foremost, it's thinking about them and the Mount Horeb community and second it's thinking about us and what we may need to do to make sure we're ready."
In the last several years, South Milwaukee voters passed two referendums, including one in 2024 that raises the district's revenue limit by about $2 million per year for the next 5 years. Money that Roemer said beefs up security.
"There's more cameras, and making sure you have a really good evacuation plan," she said.
Because of the recent referendums, she also mentioned that there are advancements made in adding technology that helps control access to classrooms and there's been funding to add more support staff, including the addition of a district safety manager, who was brought on in 2018, and additional social and emotional learning coaches.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins: "It sounds like when you're looking at these security risks and trying to figure these things out, you're not only looking at the physical security of the building but you're also looking at the emotional and mental health of students and staff?
Superintendent Deidre Roemer: "Very much so. All of those things go together," she said. "We want our students to have the skills they need to be able to navigate really difficult moments and they have the skills they need to not ever feel so frustrated that some of those options that they have feel aggressive."
After stopping in South Milwaukee, Jenkins went to Waterford where school district referendums have failed in the past several elections. He went to ask voters here what they think of using that kind of money for school security.
Back in February, Waterford voters rejected a $91 Million referendum. They rejected referendums in 2023 and 2022, too. The District has been asking for money to repair aging infrastructure.
"Why wouldn't you want to do that? Why wouldn't you want to boost security to prevent things like that from happening," said Waterford resident Lynn Wos, who just moved to the area. "If those tax dollars are going toward keeping kids safe, no-brainer."
Despite the failed referendums, even from the outside, you can see Waterford Union High School has invested in security cameras. And while reporting on this story, Jenkins learned someone is watching them. He and his crew were approached by the school resource officer, who saw them on the cameras.
Regardless of which community you live in, its clear school safety is paramount.
"Our schools are perfectly safe right now, but we want the gold standard of safety," said Roemer.
A closer look at how the decisions made at the pools can impact the safety of our kids.
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