District reviews safety plan, SRO memorandum and discipline concerns; annual audits and grant-funded SEL work highlighted

At the Aug. 13 meeting the Oshkosh Area School District presented its annual safety-plan review and summarized follow-up from a July 9 community listening session that raised questions about discipline data, school resource officer (SRO) policies, and social-emotional learning.

Doctor Coleman, who summarized the July 9 listening-session topics and led the safety-plan workshop, told the board the district—s safety plan is reviewed annually and conforms to state requirements including drills, safety audits and coordination with local emergency-management agencies. "The Oshkosh Area School District Safety Plan is reviewed annually by the board, per district policy," Coleman said.

Coleman described the district—s Emergency Preparedness Collaborative Operations Team (EPCOT), monthly cross-agency trainings with law enforcement, and district-led tabletop and full-scale exercises. He said the district received nearly a $1,000,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance STOP School Violence grant that will support districtwide social-emotional learning, mental-health and trauma-response strategies through 2027 and fund coordinated exercises with law enforcement and community partners. Coleman credited Director Kammer and his team for securing the grant.

The presentation addressed school resource officers. Coleman said district administrators, school resource officers and Oshkosh Police Department leadership met this year to clarify SRO roles, review district policies and align practice with policy. "Doctor Davis and Chief Smith provided a joint statement on their belief that school resource officers are valuable and will remain in schools," Coleman reported. The district said inconsistencies between policy and practice remain a focus and that possible policy changes could be proposed to the Policy and Governance Committee. The SRO annual report will be presented to the Finance and Facility Committee in 2025.

Coleman also summarized topics raised at the July 9 listening session: concerns about higher suspension rates among students who are Black or of two or more races; requests for clarity on who may submit and remove behavior referrals; questions about the Wayfinder social-emotional curriculum and requests for evidence of its efficacy; and requests for consistent cell-phone policies across schools. He said the district will monitor Wayfinder implementation, collect staff and student feedback and review discipline and referral data as the program launches.

The district encouraged use of the Wisconsin Department of Justice—s Speak Up, Speak Out tip line (SUSO) and said administrators, deans and SROs will engage in annual emergency-preparedness training including ALICE protocols, tactical-radio use, reunification-site walkthroughs and behavior-threat-assessment training.

Ending: Administrators said policy alignment and community engagement on SRO roles and discipline practices will continue through committee review and audits; no changes were adopted at the Aug. 13 meeting.