Manawa police responded to 22 calls since Aug. 26

By Holly Neumann

Manawa Police Chief James Gorman believes the calls to Manawa schools are becoming more serious and the frequency increasing.

He says it is taxing the police department’s resources.

“The Manawa School District’s remedy to these situation is having the school counselors respond, which is not exactly working as they thought,” Gorman said. “Changes for safety within our Manawa School District are recommended, and school district administration needs to revisit instituting additional safety measures before someone is injured or worse mortally wounded.”

Numbers disputed

He said the police department has responded to 22 calls at the school district since the school year began Aug. 26.

District Administrator Melanie Oppor disputes that number.

“Our data is a bit different,” she said.

According to Oppor, the junior-senior high school has had six calls and the elementary school two.

She made one call to the police department, and Principal Dan Wolfgram made an informational call about Homecoming.

The department did a canine search in partnership with other law enforcement, and there was a police contact regarding a “bus stop” issue in coordination with Kobussen.

Law enforcement and the Manawa Rural Fire Department were involved on two occasions when there were false fire alarms.

Gorman’s report to Manawa’s city council showed six calls of a more serious nature.

Two were from the elementary school and involved possession of a dangerous weapon and controlled substance and terroristic bomb threats. Both offenses involved two different 10-year-old boys.

At the junior-senior school, there were two separate calls for 16-year-olds in possession of controlled substances and another for a terroristic bomb threat that remains under investigation.

Oppor could not speak to the specific details of the circumstances because the individuals involved are minors.

“I can affirm that school officials are consistently working in partnership with families to support the needs of their children,” she said.

She noted the district participates in K-9 drug searches and that nothing was found in the junior-senior high school during the search earlier this school year.

Surveillance system hacked

One call involved a computer crime.

A 16-year-old student compromised the video surveillance system.

The student was referred to the district attorney’s office for a computer crimes offense and manipulating government software systems, which is a felony.

“Mr. (Bryant) Cobarrubias, information technology director, is working with personnel from CESA 6 who specialize in technology security to examine all of the district’s systems,” Oppor said. “Steps have been taken to secure all technology data systems. There is no evidence that any personally identifiable information was accessed.”

Over the summer, a team of school personnel participated in a two-day, train-the-trainer program as part of the ALICE program.

“The district will be working on training and implementing this program over the next year,” Oppor said. “Our school team trained alongside police officers from other municipalities and the Waupaca Sheriff’s Department. The district maintains a comprehensive board of education approved School/District Safety Plan.”

As part of the plan, the board identified mental health and the best ways to address it as a priority this year.

A confidential cellphone reporting app called StopIt is also available to the district’s students, staff and parents.

The real time reporting app can help principals, the dean of students and counselors address situations as they occur.