‘WHITE PARENTS ARE ORGANIZING!’

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Today in Kids Do the Darnedest Things:

Stolen Auto – 12:03 p.m. OnStar contacted dispatch to report that they were tracking a stolen auto around Turner Ave/Hob St.  The vehicle was slowed down by OnStar and it eventually stopped on the Beltline Ramp at Rimrock Road.  Two AAM juveniles fled on foot and have not been located.  The vehicle’s registered owner was contacted.  Investigation continuing.

EAST: Information/Disturbance – 12:59 p.m. Officers responded to concerns over a potential fight at La Follette High School due to ongoing disputes between two groups of female juveniles. One of the groups was contacted by officers. — from the police chief’s daily log.

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Sound the klaxons! Alert the social justice warriors! Convene the Common Council. Play the race card!

White Parents are organizing! 

So advises one JT Jenkins, who advises his social media followers:

Heads up: the white parents at this meeting are gearing up to go to school board mtgs pushing for EROs. 

This comes after a slew of neighborhood meetings earlier this week in the La Follette high school attendance area. Parents and neighbors are reeling from two school-related shootings in the span of a week in which three young people were injured. (“Two charged with attempted homicide.”)

In the last two weeks, a 17 year-old was shot on a city metro bus after a 15 year-old mishandled a gun and unintentionally fired it. Then a week later, a 16 year-old suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound during a prearranged fight where a 21 year-old brought a gun to what was to be a fist-fight, according to police.

Monday evening, the Glendale Neighborhood Association and two alders hosted a meeting at Sennett middle school with a panel comprised of MPD chief Mike Koval, the LaFollette High School principal, the Chief of Security and MMSD Assistant Superintendent. 

Mr. J.T. Jenkins, exhibiting the attributes of a good Madison social justice warrior,  was on the scene and calls out the “racists” who complain about gunfire: 

The recent shootings apparently are the permission these folks needed to pull out all the racist complaints they have about kids of color and to try and get La Follette to lock down and lock up. 

They want MORE police in schools, more police patrolling the neighborhood at lunch and after school, and generally seem to feel under siege by the LaFollette kids in their neighborhood. Sooo much dog whistle racism here OMG. “Fight clubs” and weed and cursing in the streets, etc etc

They “have money and can raise money” and plan to buy and try and install permanent metal detectors at school (GoFundMe already started).

They also blame Jennifer Cheatham for the Behavior Education Plan and the perceived increase in violence at school (one parent has their kid circulating a petition to remove Cheatham).

Most of the mobilized parents are gearing up to lobby the school board for more funding for MPD and EROs at upcoming meetings

This drew a fist pump from Dean Loumos ally Anna Moffit, who tried her darnedest on the ad hoc committee to expel cops from our schools. 

Let me know if you want to connect some time. My [successful school board] opponent [in the April election, Gloria Reyes] is a former cop and trained EROs in the school board race, and she won. I tried to offer alternative and proactive strategies to reduce violence in the community, but the Madison establishment (police chief, mayor and police union, business folks, etc.) really pushed back and amplified the “security problems” and need for safety.

(Some would suggest it was the shooters who amplified the “security problems.”) Jenkins confirms: “Yeah Cheatham is def under attack by the parents I met last nite.”

‘Even black people’ are concerned about school violence

No! What?! Derail the Jail activist Brandi Grayson chimes in:

The problem is that even black people believe in the bullshit that they’re talking. And brown folks. This is Madison — where Black & Brown folk have little analysis around white supremacy racism & /or how to address the hurt, desperation & hopelessness that so many of our families are facing. As I often say — the design of the system of white supremacy racism is genius — the more you dig into the sand the more the hole fills up. 

At that point, other parents joined in, starting with Danny Peterson:

If my family member was a student at the schools, I definitely would like one if not more armed officers in the school. Do you really want your children in a school without armed officers if a shooting broke out? Kids would be innocent sitting ducks…. you have got to have a way to stop the threat, to think it can be stopped any other way is asinine

Peyton Barber agreed. “If metal detectors and police aren’t the solution then what is? Please explain.”

‘I had to take cover in my own home’

Someone identifying him/herself as CJ CJ:

This is a step in the right direction. Gotta start somewhere! The majority of kids complied, refrained from complaining, and were actually grateful to feel safe going to school today. … My kids are safer now than they were yesterday. And that’s the bottom line.

Isabell Martinez Duran:

Having one officer on school ground is not enough to protect our children against random shooters that want to kill not just kid but people. One officer is just not enough for him to get there in time. Our teachers need to be armed to protect our children those that can get a permit. It’s sad to say that this is the way our country is going. But how else will you protect our children when when we’re not around. If everybody carried a gun a person like that will think twice about doing what he or she wants to do two people or children.

Ashley Corbin of Lake Edge:

We live 0.1 miles away for my daughter to take a city bus assigned to Sennett [middle school] so she has to take a regular bus and is TERRIFIED daily. My heart hurts for her and I try to provide transportation when necessary.

Renee Abel Collinge of Heritage Heights:

I attended the meeting last night. One of the vice principals took a head count mid-meeting and announced the count – there were 100 people there. … We then broke into small groups and talked about the top immediate needs of LHS in terms of making the school a safer place. As far as I could tell, the top three were:

1) Keeping EROs in school

2) Random security checks involving wanding and checking bags/implementation of security measures funded by the grant (cameras,”hotel locks” on all the inside doors, and more secure outside doors)

3) Getting specific kids that need the extra help the resources that they need. 

An interesting note: a student in attendance asked when was the last time Dr. Cheatham has been in the building at La Follette. The answer was last April.

We’ll give Bonnie Langrehr of Glendale the last word:

I am sorry that you and your family have to endure this. It’s not right. It’s bad enough I had to take cover in my own home but to send a child out in to this environment is unthinkable. This is why other communities that surround Madison are becoming so popular and growing so fast … Parents are worried about sending their kids to La Follette High School.