SHELBY — Students at Shelby City Schools may have a police officer in their midst this school year – but not in the style of “21 Jump Street.”
Pending approval from the board of education, the Shelby Police Department plans to implement a school resource officer (SRO) focusing mainly on the middle school and high school. It’s a program that has been discussed for the past four years.
“We continue to have conversations, and they have progressed,” said Superintendent Tim Tarvin at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. “At some point we’re going to have to make a decision about whether this is an appropriate time to move forward.”
The implementation of a school resource officer has already proven to be successful elsewhere in the city of Shelby. Four years ago, Pioneer Career and Technology Center brought on Shelby Officer Paul Zehner as their school resource officer, modeled after the SRO within Ontario Local Schools.
“We weren’t sure how it was going to work out, but we definitely know now that it has been exceptionally invaluable to both us and Pioneer,” said Shelby Police Chief Lance Combs.
A school resource officer functions essentially as a school employee, but one that works for the city as a police officer, Combs explained. The officer would be assigned to the school system for the entire school year, serving various duties including advising on security issues, building relationships with students, and being on-site in the event of a crisis.
Greg Nickoli, superintendent of Pioneer, said disciplinary incidents on Pioneer’s campus have decreased since day one of Officer Zehner’s arrival.
“It really brings a different feel to the building, because Paul has integrated himself so deeply into what we do,” Nickoli said. “Paul has just the perfect demeanor to get to know kids, be somebody they can trust and somebody they feel comfortable talking to. Issues get resolved before they even get to school administration.”
According to Combs, a school resource officer also helps the police department by responding to on-site issues and keeping other officers patrolling the streets.
“It takes quite a bit of stress off of a two-man shift because there’s somebody in the schools, and it gives the schools that resource to call upon if they have a problem or an issue that needs addressed,” Combs said.
Contract language and financials for a school resource officer in Shelby are already in the works, though Combs noted during Monday’s meeting that a “drastic overhaul” was needed before any approvals could be made. In the Shelby Police Department’s contract with Pioneer, the SRO salary is a 75/25 split between the school and the city, and a similar model is proposed for Shelby City Schools.
In addition, the police department saves Shelby City Schools a chunk of change by making the Shelby SRO serve double duty as the school system’s D.A.R.E. officer.
At the May 1 meeting, Shelby City Council authorized the mayor to apply for the Drug Use and Prevention Awareness Grant from the Ohio Attorney General. The $11,000 grant would reimburse the wages for the officers’ time spent in the classroom teaching the D.A.R.E. program.
As such, the local insurance agency Adams, Albert & Curry has paid to send a Shelby Police officer to D.A.R.E. training, and the department has secured funding to send two officers to school resource officer training. This creates a backup SRO, as well as creating a new SRO for Shelby City Schools pending board approval.
“We’re moving forward, and we’re kind of putting the cart before the horse,” Combs said. “With the drug problem we have, this is another huge reason why we need these resources in the schools, and a huge reason why we need to bring D.A.R.E. back.”
Board of Education President Lorie White expressed support for a school resource officer, but questioned how the school might measure the success of the officer. While Pioneer has reported less vandalism incidents and quicker response to disciplinary incidents, the real measure comes from student relationships.
“If at some point we were ever not able to have him on our campus, that would be a struggle for us to overcome,” Nickoli said. “It’s not only the fact that he’s a police officer, but he’s the right police officer for our campus. He’s become one of us.”
“Paul Zehner is like a rock star at Pioneer,” added Capt. Dave Mack, supervisor of the SRO program. “He has been super valuable as far as getting information from students, the relationships he’s built, and I’ve seen firsthand that he knows every kid in the school. He has become part of that building, and I’ve been very impressed.
Zehner’s influence has even extended beyond the walls of Pioneer.
“I had a kid in flag football who said he wanted to get into law enforcement,” said board member Mark Fisher. “He said it was because of Paul Zehner, he looked up to him and wanted to get into law enforcement. I thought it was awesome that people are changing their lives because of him.”
Tarvin noted that it did not seem unreasonable to have a school resource officer program up and running in Shelby City Schools by the beginning of the upcoming school year. The first day of school in Shelby this fall is Aug. 21.
“I was skeptical three or four years ago, but we’ve seen Pioneer use their officer and the benefits it’s created for them,” Tarvin said. “I think it goes even further where it’s not so much as getting kids in a ‘gotcha’ moment, it’s the relationships officers build with students. Particularly in this day and age, that’s important, and we want to be part of that.”
