SROs making a difference in Local Schools

The horrific school shooting in Connecticut earlier this month has sparked national conversation about placing police officers in every school.  Currently in Oconee County, School Resource Officers work in each middle and high school.  Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander would like to see School Resource Officers placed in elementary schools too. “I know there has been lots of discussion about police officers in schools and such.  I actually like the idea of School Resource Officers at the different levels of the school system.  I know we are in the middle and high schools now.  So I hope when we look at the national level, maybe that is something that they look at very seriously about School Resource Officers in all the schools.” Relationships between students and police are easier to form when it is done in a school setting, adds Mayor Alexander. “The School Resource Officers are able to get in and work with the kids on many levels, they also work with the parents and they are able to help with situations maybe before things happen.” School Resource Officers serve as many different things to students, concludes Mayor Alexander. “They play multiple purposes in schools.  They are heroes to lots of those kids, they are parent role models that many of them may not have, and they are somebody that they can go and talk to, but they do an amazing job.  It’s a great program that has done a lot of great things and probably prevented a lot of things too.” The School District of Oconee County has provided a link on its website for parents to use as a resource guide to help children cope with the tragic school shootings in Connecticut.