Board hears concerns about school-resource officers and staff safety; district reports rise in worker incidents and updates cybersecurity

Community concerns about school resource officers and staff safety were a prominent topic in the Oshkosh Area School District board meeting on Oct. 23. District administrators reported follow-up steps from a board listening session and presented worker-safety and cybersecurity updates.

Mrs. Conrad Peters, reporting from an Oct. 9 listening session, said seven attendees raised concerns about the role and impact of school resource officers (SROs). Attendees asked about links between citations and expulsions, oversight and accountability for SROs, training and evaluation procedures, and whether alternative models (for example, a liaison model) could be used. Mrs. Conrad Peters said follow-up work was assigned to Dr. Coleman and to her; she said the district will monitor discipline and citation data and that the first review of that data would occur at the end of the month.

On staff safety, district staff presented the quarterly mod rate and workers’ compensation report. The district said it recorded 39 incidents or claims to date this year compared with 27 at the same time last year. Staff noted that an increase in reporting, including more “near misses,” and a few incidents involving multiple staff members working with one student contributed to the higher count. The report said paraprofessionals accounted for 12 incidents—about 30% of the incidents reported—and that paraprofessionals make up roughly 18% of district staff. The district said it is monitoring that distribution and has scheduled targeted training: two schools will receive site-specific training based on near-miss data, and the district has run universal paraprofessional training in partnership with CESA 7 on engagement and behavior-management strategies.

District cybersecurity lead Mr. Schmidt told the board the security update has been “a very boring report,” a phrasing he used to mean no major incidents. He reported the district’s phishing click rate is roughly 2% compared with a roughly 11% industry average, and said reporting changes and more-sophisticated testing campaigns explain some short-term fluctuations. Mr. Schmidt credited network manager Kurt Anderson for a recent firewall upgrade the team completed with zero disruption to users. He also said the district is updating policies to align with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidance; as an example, password-policy guidance now emphasizes stronger passwords over frequent forced resets.

Board members thanked staff for the follow-up commitments on SROs and for safety and cybersecurity work. The board directed staff to continue monitoring discipline and worker-safety data and to report back as planned.