Milwaukee schools report a spate of episodes involving adults – particularly parents – causing violent disruptions, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says. One mother was cited for disorderly conduct after she was accused of verbally confronting a student in front of his fourth-grade class. She believed the student had been bullying her son. Another woman was charged with battery on allegations of punching a student outside a middle school. In the last few weeks, several Milwaukee adults were issued disorderly conduct citations for disruptions in schools. “The schools and administrators are seeing more violent parents,” said Pete Pochowski, school security director, who noted that in the first seven weeks of the school year there were reports of 16 outsiders causing disruptions in public schools.
The school system took the unusual step of creating a “notice of no trespassing” letter that principals can send to adults who have caused problems in schools. Pochowski said the city attorney’s office was being swamped by principals asking for restraining orders, and worked to tailor the letter for the school district. “I guess you could call it temporary restraining order lite,” he said. “I’ve heard several principals say, ‘I’ve got three or four out now,’ ” Pochowski said. Asked why schools might be having more problems with adults, Pochowski said, “People are less tolerant of each other than they used to be. What used to be a fistfight in an alley behind a bar is now a gunshot.” For some parents, “there just doesn’t seem to be an acceptance when a teacher says, ‘Well, your child is not doing well,’ or whatever. In some cases, we’ve had adults come on school buses or into classrooms and attack a child that was involved in a fight with their child the day before. That’s unprecedented.”