Milwaukee Co. judge gives MPS 10 more days to have cops in schools
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Judge David Borowski ordered the district and city to split costs 50/50 for a school resource officer program and have officers in place within 10 days or face contempt of court
A Milwaukee County judge did not hold back Monday, February 17, 2025, outraged over the Milwaukee Public Schools Board of School Directors missing another deadline to have resource officers back in schools.
“My order three weeks ago was not to negotiate further. It was to do it. It was to put the officers in the schools,” Judge David Borowski said.
Borowski ordered the MPS board of school directors to have school resource officers in the schools, but the city and the board could not come to an agreement on an apportionment of costs.
“Why do you think you have the ability, legal, ethical, moral or otherwise, to ignore court orders? You don’t,” Borowski said.
“The gall and the temerity of, again, primarily the school board, but to the lesser degree, the city is breathtaking,” Borowski said.
Monday’s hearing was the latest chapter of a lawsuit brought by an MPS parent, who sued the school board because MPS has not re-instated resource officers in schools, as mandated by state law. Borowski gave MPS and the city a Feb. 17 deadline to comply with the law. When that didn’t happen, attorneys for both sides showed up to court to explain why.
“The city has indicated it’s not going to make the officers available to MPS until a financial arrangement has been reached,” attorney Hanna Kolberg, representing the school board, said.
“Why is the city not giving them the resource officers, and why did they not do it 13 months ago?” Borowski asked the city attorney.
“The city is awaiting an agreement as to the apportionment of those costs,” attorney Clint Muche, representing the city, said. Borowski said the school board and city’s explanations were not valid, nor lawful explanations for the continued violation of the law.
“None of that is good cause for why my order was not complied with,” Borowski said.
Monday was just the most recent deadline the district has missed. Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 12 into law in the summer of 2023. It required MPS have 25 school resource officers by Jan. 1, 2024. Lawmakers did not specify who should pay, or how much.
“They left a huge gap in this law by not just saying what the apportionment should be. So I’m going to fill that gap today,” Borowski said.
According to the MPS Office of Board Governance, the total cost comes out to $1,591,959, meaning the district and the city are each on the hook for $759,979.
“You know who’s paying for this? It’s not MPS. It sure as heck is not the school board. It is not the mayor. It is the taxpayers of the city of Milwaukee,” Borowski said.
The MPS mother who filed the lawsuit, Charlene Abughrin, told WISN 12 News Monday’s ruling is a win.
“He left them with no excuses on the table. None whatsoever. The next time we come back to court, they need to comply or they’re going to be sanctions for them,” Abughrin said.
Borowski said he wouldn’t give the district additional time to train officers.
“I’m just not going to give MPS another out, another excuse to say, well, now we’re going to need another month to find the officers to do the training. They can have the training be ongoing as they’re in the schools,” Borowski said.
There’s another court date set for Feb. 27, where Borowski also ordered the president or vice president of the school board, and someone from the city, show up and be prepared to testify if the new deadline is not met.
“If they’re not in the schools in the next ten days, I will set a hearing, and we will take up sanctions, contempt of court and the allocation of all actual costs to the plaintiff’s attorney and to the plaintiff,” Borowski said. “This ongoing violation of Act 12, this ongoing violation of state law, this ongoing violation, just flaunting of legal and court authority will end.”
