David Michael Miller
The Madison school board recently voted to continue its contract with the Madison Police Department to keep an officer in each of the city’s four regular high schools. But Police Chief Mike Koval has expressed opposition to the key provision that allowed it to pass on a 4-3 vote. Koval should drop his opposition by the time the contract reaches the Common Council on July 2 for approval on the city’s end.
The new three-year contract was amended to allow the district to drop one officer in one school after the 2019-2020 school year. It also calls for quarterly reviews of arrests and citations and for an action plan if those seem to weigh more heavily on communities of color.
Look, I think the opponents of police in schools haven’t made their case. They are taking a big, broad, abstract truth (historically police departments all over the country have had a pattern of racism) and applying it inappropriately to a specific case (Madison school cops who have had an exemplary record of helping, not harming, students).
But, that said, what’s lacking at the national and state levels of government these days is good, old-fashioned compromise, wherein each side gives up some of what it wants in order to move forward. But here at the local level it seems like our institutions might still be functional.
Freedom Inc., the activist group that has been disrupting school board meetings over this issue, has been calling for ending the contract altogether. What they have demanded is all police out of every school now. They didn’t get anything near that and yet they were not present to disrupt the meeting on Monday evening where the contract was approved. If that means that they’ve accepted the compromise, good for them. They’ve made progress toward their goal in a responsible way and they’ve raised broader issues that are valid.
Koval should see it the same way. The compromise doesn’t allow the district to just take a cop out of a school willy-nilly. They have to explain why they think it’s a good idea to take an officer out of the one school they want to go cop-free. And those quarterly reviews should provide both sides with greater understanding of what the concerns and progress might be over time. More ongoing discussion and more data provided on a timely basis is a good thing as transparency always is.
I just don’t see a downside to this deal. I hope Koval will remove his opposition and that the Common Council and the mayor will approve it so that everyone can move forward.