MANITOWOC, Wis. (NBC 26) — It's a key issue for some Manitowoc residents and families.
"To even have a debate about this issue makes little sense to me," Sulynn Moore said.
"Your presence would make young children uncomfortable and feel unsafe," parent Dayna Goetz said.
On Tuesday, the Manitowoc school board voted in favor of giving members key fobs for access to all district buildings. The motion passed five to two.
One member talked about the reason for his vote.
"We want to move forward and get better scores in our performance," Vice President Collin Braunel said. "We want to have the behavior issues squashed. So just kind of even wrapping our heads around certain things, that's an ideal thing too."
As far as what would be part of receiving a fob...
"Background checks would have to be completed," Braunel said. "There should be some policy around what happens if we lose the key fobs, not just even for board members but other individuals too."
He says the keys could be used for meetings on weekends.
"Rather than pull in the employees to open up the building for us and take away from their weekend so we can have a meeting," Braunel said.
There is a district policy that still needs to be changed before the board is granted full access.
"Policy should never be written to benefit a school board," Goetz told the board. "Policy should always be written to provide and ensure safety of our students and staff."
"Let's let these board members do their jobs, get a handle on discipline and give the teachers some support," Moore said during the public comment portion.
Amid concerns from parents that curriculum will be scrutinized, board members we spoke with say it's about issues like discipline.
Multiple members say they won't even accept the key fob.
"I'm not even sure what would be occurring that we would need to discover," Braunel said. "But honestly, it's just another level of accountability."
