ONTARIO — Scott Dawson, Ontario Police Department’s School Resource Officer, was saluted on Tuesday night by supt. Keith Strickler
Strickler said he’ll often see students walk into Dawson’s office just to chat or give him a high five.
“It’s hard to find an SRO. You’ve got to have just the right personality — to be someone that could relate to the students, to be that warrior that’s here in the building but yet able to connect with people,” he said.
“It’s amazing to see the relationships he’s built with the students.”
Dawson said he tries to make his office a safe place for kids.
“I like to check in, make sure they’re doing OK,” he said.
“That’s my main thing is make sure they’re safe. If they have any concerns, my door’s always open.”
The board also voted to adopt an alternative calamity day make-up plan. Starting on the sixth calamity day, grades levels where students have individually-issued school technology will have virtual learning during school closures.
“I think if there’s anything we learned during a couple of years battling COVID, we can deliver current content with our kids and keep them moving,” Strickler said.
Grade levels that do not have the technology will continue using blizzard bags, but teachers will no longer have to prepare them by Nov. 1.
Strickler said in the past, the Nov. 1 deadline made it difficult for teachers to create relevant lesson plans for students. This often lead to busywork assignments that could be given out at any point during the school year, but held little educational value.
“There’s nothing worse as a parent than when you’re sitting at home trying to do stuff with your kid and it’s a word search,” he said. “I would rather use these days effectively rather than putting in a day just to put in a day.”
Students in grades 6 to 12 currently have school issued Chromebooks. Next year, fourth and fifth grade students will also be one-to-one.
Students who do not have access to the internet at home will be given time at school to complete the assignments, according to the resolution. Ream said there are very few families without internet access in the district.
