Jay, who has lived in the Waukesha area for nearly 20 years, is an active volunteer who serves on numerous local boards and committees. He’s married to Colleen with three kids having gone through the Waukesha schools. He is the VP of a local distribution company and currently serves on several area Boards.
It’s been a tough few weeks to be a student.
It’s been a troublesome, emotional week for students in and from Waukesha and Brookfield.
And it’s been a week of concern and questioning for the parent of (2) current UW LaCrosse students and a Waukesha North High School senior. And that parent is…me!
Eight young men have died since 1997 under suspicious circumstances, and, tragically, we all “hope” (not really) they were so drunk they fell in the Mississippi…Why? …Because we consider a “drunk death” preferable to the possibility of a psychopathic killer preying on young people?
A high school sophomore makes threats that are so relevant, so timely, and so concise that he is suspended. Within days, the student is reported to have repeated the same threats and now faces possible/probable expulsion and misdemeanor charges. Am I to be comforted by the fact the police searched his home and no guns were found?
My wife and I have listened to and felt all (3) of our kids very real fears and concerns over these last few weeks. Fears that can’t be washed away by a simple “Oh, these are just isolated cases – don’t worry about it (them)”. Concerns that bring their future; their vulnerability; even their mortality to the forefront of our conversations. And all of this then followed by rumors flying in the aftermath on both campuses.
Our kids are scared! There… it’s said. These soon-to-be “independent” (so they think) young adults are frightened. They have abandoned their veneers of self-sufficiency and unashamedly are talking about their heightened insecurities during these unsettling times.
And how helpless I feel… This isn’t about me having the “right’ answers – I don’t! My thoughts don’t turn away on to the next item when I finish my phone call with them. Their fear is my fear, and right now I am very concerned that short of being with them every minute of every day, they are vulnerable.
It’s not the schools’ fault nor do we really know how to prevent the next tragedy. Blame placed with the schools is truthfully and understandably misdirected frustration and pent-up anger. Making the schools “armed camps” is impractical and won’t protect against an off-campus episode.
This is a different world from the one I grew-up in. My typical “persona” is to assess issues; deal with them; and move on. That doesn’t hold water right now. My kids are experiencing very real fears… and I don’t know how to help them…
