OC Superintendent offers condolences following Santa Fe Shooting

As the country mourns another school shooting and the loss of ten lives in the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas, Oconee County Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Thorsland is offering his condolences. “It’s just awful. It is becoming all too common and just something that we as a country need to, I guess, find strategies to prevent this from happening because it is awful. Schools are, by in large, very safe places but even one school shooting is too many and we need to focus on ways that we can prevent it.” Dr. Thorsland is grateful that new School Resource Officers (SRO) have been approved for the school district. “We’re very thankful to the Oconee County Council for budgeting seven new positions and in our budget we put two new positions in, which will double the number of SROs that we have from nine to 18 and that will have every school covered with Pre-K through 12th grade students. So, that will be our Alternative School, the Career Center and then all 16 of our elementary, middle and high schools. So, we are excited about that. We do think having an SRO with a marked car in front of the building is a deterrent. It is not a complete answer because as you heard the school in Texas that suffered the tragedy last week had two SROs is my understanding. So, it is not the perfect scenario or perfect solution but that along with other things that need to be considered, you know some proactive things with mental health and things like that but we certainly are excited about the SRO positions in Oconee County.” With the additional SROs, the School District of Oconee County and the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office are tabling the ASAP School Security Program that was proposed last month.