Recent school shooting spurs quick action by Waterford board
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
It might have happened in an adjacent county, and in a larger community, but it still hit far too close to home.
That was the sentiment of the Waterford Village Board this week, whose members on Dec. 2 voted unanimously in favor of allocating what was described as an “emergency expense” to swiftly bring a school resource officer into Waterford Union High School through the duration of the 2019-20 school year.
The plan in motion, which calls for the use of $45,000 in municipal funds, came the same day of the shooting and a subsequent lockdown at Waukesha South High School.
According to media reports, during that incident a student pointed a gun at another student and later at a school resource police officer before being shot by the officer.
WUHS is one of a small number of high schools in the region currently without a resource officer. There have been talks of bringing one into the building in recent years, though issues of district and municipal funding have been sticking points in the past.
Another factor is WUHS’ footprint. Though the high school buildings are village-based, it also serves students in all or portions of the towns of Waterford and Norway and Village of Rochester, as well as small slivers of other adjacent townships.
Regardless of how other municipal governments proceed, many members of the Waterford Village Board this week said they wanted to allocate their own funding.
“I think it’s this board’s obligation to do this,” Trustee Troy McReynolds said. “The date and the time is now.”
Trustee Andy Ewert offered similar sentiment, stating he believed the allocation of $45,000 was a prudent expense in the village’s financial ledger.
“It’s well-spent money to protect our students,” Ewert said.
The board’s decision comes as the WUHS School Board considers a potential April referendum that would fund an SRO into perpetuity. WUHS officials are slated to continue discussing the referendum at the next School Board meeting Dec. 16.
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