Wisconsin’s top school safety official visits site of Parkland school shooting before demolition

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – “It was real. The experience was real. You can’t ignore the fact you’re walking over the blood of those killed, you’re stepping on the glass that was shattered as the weapon fired through the door window,” recalled Wisconsin’s Director of the Office of School Safety, Trish Kilpin.

Last weekend, Kilpin was invited to walk through where the shooting took place before the building is demolished at the end of the school year. It’s a scene no one wants to experience, but Kilpin said she needed to see for herself in order to better advocate for school safety in the Badger state. Her invitation largely came because of the funding troubles the Office of School Safety, or OSS, is battling right now to keep the program running into next school year.

In three minutes and 51 seconds, 34 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High were shot by a murderer who broke into the school. The massacre happened back in 2017, but the crime scene has sat preserved ever since.

“There’s a fire in my belly about this. There can be no complacency,” said Kilpin.

Kilpin was a part of a group of educators, first responders and lawmakers from around the country who were all invited to tour Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Lawmakers from Wisconsin were invited, too. But Kilpin says none of them came.

“I was disappointed not to have legislators from Wisconsin, but I will continue to try to advocate as best I can to hear the messages learned at Parkland,” said Kilpin.

“The things we are doing for school safety in Wisconsin aren’t just a good idea, they are essential,” said Kilpin.

Lawmakers did not vote to provide state funding necessary to keep services going for next school year with the OSS in Wisconsin. Kilpin says if legislators don’t act, most services will cease to exist. It’s a political battle Kilpin and lawmakers she met from across the country in Parkland can’t make sense of.

“I told them about the funding challenges in Wisconsin, and there was an audible gasp in the room because the school safety director from Texas, who just experience Uvalde, was there. We had people from Virginia who had just experienced a tragedy. There were people from other states stunned by this,” recalled Kilpin.

Like the massacre crime scene, Kilpin will now preserve what she witnessed firsthand to better advocate to keep her office and the student safety services it provides running for years to come.

“One of the quotes painted on the wall spoke to me. It was ‘to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.’ I feel like at this time when we know what we need to do for school safety in Wisconsin, we cannot be silent about that.

Kilpin says she has been advocating for a new Wisconsin bill to be authored to fund the OSS. She says he’s been hearing of some interest from lawmakers, but she hasn’t seen a bill yet.

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