April 25, 2018 at 5:26 p.m.
Plan for SRO may take time
Funding, training could impact implementation of single officer
Plan for SRO may take time
School safety is at the forefront for Jay School Corporation and superintendent Jeremy Gulley has made efforts to quickly implement plans to ensure security for students.
One of the items, though, on his wish list may take some time to become a reality.
Part of Gulley’s nine-point plan, which details steps to improve security for Jay Schools’ nine buildings, involves employing a full-time school resource officer at Jay County High School. Currently, the position rotates among multiple police officers during off-duty time.
“The difference in having a full-time officer is that we'll have someone who can plan, coordinate and oversee our school security for the entire district,” Gulley said. “You can't do that now with officers that are rotating.”
Because of the technicalities with funding the position, going through the hiring process and training, Gulley said how quickly the county can implement a full-time school resource officer will be up to Jay County Sheriff's Office and Jay County Commissioners.
“It could be the 2019 or 2020 school year before we see that,” Gulley said. “We have about a year where we are going to have to continue to utilize the same approach we have now until an officer can be hired, selected, trained and placed in that role.”
Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford said the full-time school resource officer will have many responsibilities is the position becomes a reality.
The officer would be provided an office, where they would be responsible for security measures and monitoring cameras at the schools.
One of the items, though, on his wish list may take some time to become a reality.
Part of Gulley’s nine-point plan, which details steps to improve security for Jay Schools’ nine buildings, involves employing a full-time school resource officer at Jay County High School. Currently, the position rotates among multiple police officers during off-duty time.
“The difference in having a full-time officer is that we'll have someone who can plan, coordinate and oversee our school security for the entire district,” Gulley said. “You can't do that now with officers that are rotating.”
Because of the technicalities with funding the position, going through the hiring process and training, Gulley said how quickly the county can implement a full-time school resource officer will be up to Jay County Sheriff's Office and Jay County Commissioners.
“It could be the 2019 or 2020 school year before we see that,” Gulley said. “We have about a year where we are going to have to continue to utilize the same approach we have now until an officer can be hired, selected, trained and placed in that role.”
Jay County Sheriff Dwane Ford said the full-time school resource officer will have many responsibilities is the position becomes a reality.
The officer would be provided an office, where they would be responsible for security measures and monitoring cameras at the schools.
He or she would also be in charge of setting up schedules and assigning current deputies working as school resource officers to provide security at the elementary and middle school buildings.
In addition, the full-time school resource officer would be responsible for the training of “on-site armed capacity” — school corporation employees authorized by the school board to have access to a firearm kept in a safe on school property. This policy was approved by board members earlier this month and will be subject to approval on second reading in May.
“It’s really going to be a lot of administrative work for the full-time school resource officer, but it’s important,” Ford said. “This is very important for the safety of the students.”
The idea of having a full-time school resource officer has been on JCHS principal Chad Dodd’s mind since 2013 when Indiana Department of Homeland Security began offering the Secured School Safety Grant program. The program provides matching grants to school corporations to help fund conducting a threat assessment, the purchase of equipment designed to restrict access to the school or the employment of a school resource officer.
Although Dodd said the school corporation didn’t go through the processes of finding just one officer, they did work with the sheriff’s office to implement the current system of using multiple deputies to fill the role.
After going through A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) and National Association of School Resource Officer training, five officers covered JCHS, Bloomfield and Pennville elementary schools.
Since witnessing the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, Dodd said now is the time to have one officer in charge on a full-time basis.
“With threat assessments and school safety plans, we're trying to coordinate those and make them very similar across all the buildings in the district. You need someone to be able to do that and focus on that,” Dodd said. “I have liked the five different guys because it’s five different personalities, they connect with different kids and kids feel more comfortable talking to one more than the other. But, I think that as we look to unify the schools, it makes sense to have one person in charge of that.”
Unlike what is implemented now, Dodd said a full-time school resource officer would “really become a part of our staff.”
Being a part of the school community and working closely with students would be a key role of the future full-time resource officer and one that deputy Ray Newton believes is important to overall school safety.
Having been certified as a school resource officer since 2015, Newton said “it’s about more than just preventing active shooters and breaking up fights in the schools.”
“We interact with the kids,” he said. “We just don’t walk around and say nothing. We want to be seen, we want to talk to students if they want to talk. If they come up to us and want advice, we give them advice. We are really there for them.”
Newton said he hopes to see more done in the schools after the role of a full-time school resource officer is filled.
“We can do a lot more if we go down to one school resource officer. I would like to see some type of criminal justice class offered by us or a drug awareness program,” Newton said. “I think there is a lot more we could do and offer the students and teachers.”
Right now, Gulley said he is waiting on the school board attorney to review the school resource officer written agreement.
Once that is completed, Gulley, along with Ford, will ask for a meeting with Jay County Commissioners to discuss how the expense of a full-time school resource officer might be shared between county government and the school system.
In the meantime, steps toward making schools more difficult targets for active shooters will continue to be put into practice. Some that have already been implemented include ballistic resistant film being placed on windows and exterior doors at JCHS.
“We are serious about improving the security of the Jay School Corporation,” Gulley said. “My goal is to make schools among the safest in the nation.”
In addition, the full-time school resource officer would be responsible for the training of “on-site armed capacity” — school corporation employees authorized by the school board to have access to a firearm kept in a safe on school property. This policy was approved by board members earlier this month and will be subject to approval on second reading in May.
“It’s really going to be a lot of administrative work for the full-time school resource officer, but it’s important,” Ford said. “This is very important for the safety of the students.”
The idea of having a full-time school resource officer has been on JCHS principal Chad Dodd’s mind since 2013 when Indiana Department of Homeland Security began offering the Secured School Safety Grant program. The program provides matching grants to school corporations to help fund conducting a threat assessment, the purchase of equipment designed to restrict access to the school or the employment of a school resource officer.
Although Dodd said the school corporation didn’t go through the processes of finding just one officer, they did work with the sheriff’s office to implement the current system of using multiple deputies to fill the role.
After going through A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) and National Association of School Resource Officer training, five officers covered JCHS, Bloomfield and Pennville elementary schools.
Since witnessing the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, Dodd said now is the time to have one officer in charge on a full-time basis.
“With threat assessments and school safety plans, we're trying to coordinate those and make them very similar across all the buildings in the district. You need someone to be able to do that and focus on that,” Dodd said. “I have liked the five different guys because it’s five different personalities, they connect with different kids and kids feel more comfortable talking to one more than the other. But, I think that as we look to unify the schools, it makes sense to have one person in charge of that.”
Unlike what is implemented now, Dodd said a full-time school resource officer would “really become a part of our staff.”
Being a part of the school community and working closely with students would be a key role of the future full-time resource officer and one that deputy Ray Newton believes is important to overall school safety.
Having been certified as a school resource officer since 2015, Newton said “it’s about more than just preventing active shooters and breaking up fights in the schools.”
“We interact with the kids,” he said. “We just don’t walk around and say nothing. We want to be seen, we want to talk to students if they want to talk. If they come up to us and want advice, we give them advice. We are really there for them.”
Newton said he hopes to see more done in the schools after the role of a full-time school resource officer is filled.
“We can do a lot more if we go down to one school resource officer. I would like to see some type of criminal justice class offered by us or a drug awareness program,” Newton said. “I think there is a lot more we could do and offer the students and teachers.”
Right now, Gulley said he is waiting on the school board attorney to review the school resource officer written agreement.
Once that is completed, Gulley, along with Ford, will ask for a meeting with Jay County Commissioners to discuss how the expense of a full-time school resource officer might be shared between county government and the school system.
In the meantime, steps toward making schools more difficult targets for active shooters will continue to be put into practice. Some that have already been implemented include ballistic resistant film being placed on windows and exterior doors at JCHS.
“We are serious about improving the security of the Jay School Corporation,” Gulley said. “My goal is to make schools among the safest in the nation.”
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