(The Center Square) – A bill that will require each Wisconsin school district to define appropriate communication between staff and students has passed an Assembly committee and had a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Education on Wednesday.
The amended bill will require school districts to adopt a policy by Sept. 1 that includes punishments, up to firing, for those employees and volunteers who violate the policy in their official capacity.
“Importantly, this bill preserves local control,” Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, wrote in testimony on the bill. “It does not mandate a one-size-fits-all policy. Instead, it allows each school district to determine what communication standards work best for its community, while requiring that districts establish clear expectations for appropriate staff student communications during and outside of school hours.”
The bill is part of a group of laws in a push by Nedweski and other legislators to root out inappropriate conduct between staff and students that includes a grooming law that was also heard in the Senate committee on Wednesday.
Nedweski cited a Kenosha grooming case of teacher Christian Enwright that led to 12 misdemeanors and sentence of 450 days in jail and three years of probation.
During that case, Nedweski said prosecutors were looking for an enhanced charge and she began working to create a specific grooming law. The legislation was then introduced soon after a series of investigative stories from The Capital Times highlighted how state Department of Public Instruction investigations into 200 cases of sexual misconduct and grooming in Wisconsin schools had been concealed.
Nedweski also cited a more recent case of a Kenosha middle school teacher placed on leave and then fired after he was found to be sending SnapChat messages to a high school student including messages like “damn u cute!” and “aww so pretty.”
Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction testified in support of the legislation and crafted sample policies for school districts.
“The goal of the current board policies, and of AB 678, is to prohibit private electronic communication with students using personal devices or non-district platforms, with extremely limited exceptions,” DPI Deputy State Supt. of Operations Tom McCarthy said in testimony. “That goal must be balanced with the need for teachers and school staff to maintain open communication with both students and parents. To address this dichotomy, states have begun to regulate digital communication more directly, in some cases requiring traceable communication systems, parental inclusion in most electronic messages, or centralized platforms for school communication.”
The amended bill requires annual training for staff and notification of the requirements.
