School safety, security, and violence prevention resource

When you pick up your kids or drop them off, do you bring your pets along? I don’t recall ever doing this and for some of you, the question may not apply. For a “concerned constituent” of Alderman Tom Weber of Green Bay, pets and school grounds are a bad combination. The Green Bay Gazette ran a story on this yesterday:

A proposed ordinance that would prohibit people from walking their pets on school grounds in Green Bay while picking up or dropping off their children is scheduled to be considered by a City Council committee on Monday night.

The issue is on the agenda of the Protection & Safety Committee, which meets at 5:30 p.m. in room 207 of City Hall, 100 N. Jefferson St.

The issue was brought forth at the request of Alderman Tom Weber, who is not a member of that committee.

Weber said he would not support such an ordinance but brought it forth at the request of one of his constituents.

He said the constituent expressed concerns that having pets on school grounds could mean that students would be stepping in or even rolling around in areas the pets may have sullied.

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems that the concern of the constituent is that children may get sick due to the possibility of dog poop (and other waste from all sorts of pets) in the grass. Thinking about it, yeah, I can see why the person is concerned. But, to quote Weber, “kids roll around in the grass all summer!” Indeed, you can see children playing in fields, on the street, in playgrounds, and in parks all the time. Who is to say that those places do not hold the same potential health dangers for them?

What I am simply trying to say here is that issues such as these should not be the main concern of parents. I can name a hundred and one other pressing issues. Let’s see, if you want to focus on health then let’s start with the kind of food cafeterias are serving. Then we can move on to the preparation of the food. And so on. We also have issues on building safety, security, bullying, school bus safety – I can go on and on.

I am not singling out this story just because. I think that it is simply an example of our tendency to get derailed from the main issues. Instead of being distracted by trifling matters, why don’t we remain focused on what really poses threats to school children?

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