PLEASE DIRECT INQUIRIES TO:
Dr. Caroline Pate-Hefty, 262-472-8700
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 30, 2025
Response to City of Whitewater Communication
WHITEWATER, WI — I would like to take a moment to clear up some misinformation shared with our community today by the City of Whitewater regarding the Whitewater Police Department School Resource Officer Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that guides and governs their work within the Whitewater Unified School District (WUSD).
To be clear, the claim that our suggested changes are about money is false and misleading. We are advocating for safety in our schools and for our students’ and parents’ rights, which have been repeatedly violated.
On April 9, 2025, after a series of failed attempts to address concerns regarding these violations of student and parental rights, I shared the following memo with the Whitewater Police Department, in consultation with our School Board attorney and Board President: SRO MOU.pdf
The memo invites the WPD to continue to work with the Whitewater Unified School District. However, it maintains that the following must be addressed:
Failure on the part of the WPD to cover dates of absence for the SRO. While the community supported a referendum to increase police staffing, there is still no plan in place to provide coverage for our students when the SRO is not on-site. This year alone, we have had 27 days of no coverage. This is a safety concern.
The WPD has failed to follow WUSD Board Policy 445, which pertains to contacting parents before interviewing our students. This is a violation of student and parental rights in school. When we contacted WPD to address these concerns, department officials have repeatedly stated that this policy does not pertain to them. The memo asks that WPD address this in its new MOU. Families have shared with us that their children feel that they have been targeted at school.
In April, the WPD implemented an arbitrary new procedure requiring WUSD staff to contact "dispatch" for all needs related to the SRO. This procedure creates an unnecessary step when district staff are already contracting the SRO full-time on our campus. Additionally, considering the public nature of dispatch, we want to protect often-sensitive information about students and their families. When we addressed this matter with the WPD, the department indicated it would wait until a new superintendent is in place to implement the procedure. This is unacceptable.
Rather than address any of these concerns, the WPD and City of Whitewater met and sent the WUSD School Board a memo suggesting that the MOU be extended by 120 days. The communication failed to address any of the above points. To that end, on April 28, 2025, the WUSD School Board reviewed and decided not to extend the service with the WPD until the concerns are addressed.
Given that the school district attempted to renegotiate this contract and address these issues many times to ensure the safety of our students and protection of their rights, the WUSD Board unanimously voted to open up the MOU process to any outside agency that will adhere to these basic needs and provide for our students' and staff safety. WUSD will invite both public and private entities to apply under the new MOU, including the City of Whitewater and WPD.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide clarification and accurate information regarding this important matter.