(The Center Square) – Gov. Tony Evers isn’t on board with Wisconsin’s proposed anti-grooming legislation.
In a weekend appearance on UpFront, the governor, who is both a former teacher and a former state superintendent of schools, said he doesn’t want to turn teachers into robots.
“[Teachers] are not police officers. They are not D.A.s,” Evers said. He added he probably won’t sign the plan. “If it’s going to stop teachers from maybe putting their arm around a kid when they are hurting, probably not.”
The Cap Times reported last month that Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, which Evers used to lead, investigated 200 teachers over a five-year period for grooming or sexual misconduct.
Evers said the problem is defining grooming.
“The issue of grooming is very difficult,” the governor said. “I remember when I was state superintendent, we went through some things to make [the laws] more thoughtful and helpful. But at the end of the day, grooming is something that is hard to define. And if we want it to be against the law, we need to identify what it is.”
The Cap Times last week revealed that Evers introduced grooming reforms while he was state superintendent, but those reforms were scrapped because of unidentified “pushback.”
“[It was] grooming, grooming, grooming, and then teachers will say ‘I can’t do this? I can’t do that?’” the governor added. “If we believe we can find a good definition for grooming, and it’s against the law, that will change everything. It’s just a very difficult thing to find.”
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Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, who is driving the anti- grooming legislation didn’t buy the governor’s reluctance.
“This statement from @GovEvers is ridiculous. Here is how grooming is defined in the bill (which he clearly has not read),” she wrote on X. “Absolutely nothing in this bill prohibits teachers from giving a kid a hug when they’re having a bad day. It’s about protecting kids from predators & abuse.”
