How Wisconsin’s new grooming law strengthens student safety
Teresa Brown
Director of the Office for Safe Environment
In March 2026, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed Wisconsin Act 89 into law to protect students from grooming and other boundary violations. This law, along with its companion legislation, Act 88, has classified grooming as a felony, and it requires that all schools in the state, including private institutions, establish strict, clearly defined boundaries for employees and volunteers and how they communicate with students.
Understanding Grooming
The Diocese of La Crosse has updated its annual Protect and Heal training to include information on the grooming process used by predators. This training focuses on the power dynamics between trusted adults and minors. It also outlines clear parameters for acceptable communication between adults in a school or parish and children.
But what is grooming? Grooming is conduct, behavior, or a series of acts with the intent to condition, seduce, solicit, lure or entice a child for sexual contact or explicit material. It includes isolating students from their parents or peers, attempting to establish inappropriate relationships with them, seeking to keep communication secret and gradually introducing personal or boundary-crossing conversations.
Grooming is considered child abuse and requires school staff, medical professionals and other mandatory reporters to notify law enforcement immediately upon suspicion.
Criminal charges for grooming can be filed even if no physical sexual contact has occurred. Grooming is classified as a Class G felony, which carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Additionally, the law includes graduated penalties that can elevate the felony class under specific circumstances. A conviction will now require mandatory registration on the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry.
The new law is designed not to stifle caring relationships but to protect both students and teachers from entering gray areas. By maintaining appropriate boundaries with minors, teachers and staff can help create a safe environment. This allows students to focus on learning while promoting healthy social, emotional and spiritual growth. Boundaries serve as models for students, demonstrating appropriate and healthy ways to interact with others while respecting parental roles and authority.
Approved methods of communication, such as Canvas, Google Classroom, Skyward, FACTS or other approved platforms, should be used when communicating with a student, rather than personal email.
Protecting Children Through Transparency
Teacher/Coach-to-Student communication should be related to legitimate educational, spiritual, extracurricular, safety or school purposes. All communications should be professional in tone and appropriate for an adult-student relationship, avoiding personal or intimate details about the employees’ or volunteers’ lives.
Any communication with a student must include a parent as a recipient or be conducted in such a way that the parents may access or review the communications. Communications with a student should not be deleted. All communications must be retained in a manner that ensures transparency and accountability and allows review by school administrations or parents when appropriate. Never encourage a student to keep communications or their content secret from their parents or peers.
Parents Play a Vital Role
Keeping our children safe means being aware. Pay attention to subtle signs of a problem. Tell your child that abuse is never their fault. Talk to your child about abuse and abusers. Listen and observe your child and watch for danger signs and sudden changes in their behavior. Let them know that they can tell you anything and teach them what to do if someone makes them uncomfortable.
To report abuse in Wisconsin, contact your local law enforcement agency or one of the county human services offices located in the 19 counties of the Diocese of La Crosse.