By Sterling McGinn
A program that made a significant impact at Tahquamenon Area Schools (TAS) will return at the start of this school year.
TAS and the Luce County Sheriff’s Department worked together to provide the district with a School Resource Officer (SRO) to walk the school halls and handle criminal matters if they occur.
“It went very well, and we had very few hiccups,” said Luce County Sheriff Eric Gravelle.
“I look forward to this coming school year, as the SRO has been established and the students are used to having them around,” said Superintendent Stacy Price. “The partnership between the school and the sheriff’s office has been fabulous.”
An increase of vandalism and vaping caused Price and the TAS Board of Education to investigate the possibility of funding an officer to assist TAS.
In January of this year, Price secured an approximately $61,000 grant through the Michigan Section 97 flat grant, which provided funds for school security.
Price approached Sheriff Gravelle about providing an officer for the position. Gravelle’s deputy budget had been significantly reduced.
In late January, Deputy Zachariah Kitzman, a 2003 Newberry High School graduate, began working two days a week at the school and undersheriff Mike Peters worked a day every other week. The officers were paid through the funds from the grant.
The Section 97 Flat Grant money will continue through the State of Michigan fiscal year which ends September 30 of this year. The SRO funding will continue through 31aa, which has an end usage date of September 30, 2025.
Deputy Kitzman will return three days per week, and Gravelle said Undersheriff Peters will work a day if needed. Price said that she would like to have the SRO go to the classrooms and give presentations about safety.
Staff members noticed a change in the culture when the SRO is on duty and have interacted well with the students. Lunchtime in the school cafeteria saw the SRO playing chess or cards or just visiting with the students.
“We are happy on the way it went,” said Sheriff Gravelle. “We had a meeting with Stacy a couple of weeks ago and went over everything from last year and the coming year. There is going to be some training with our department and some of the other first responders with teachers, so we have some working knowledge together on what to expect and what not to expect. If we had some kind of active violence, we would all be on the same page.”
Price believes that the SRO will be more visible throughout the building as the 7-12 grade will be moved out of the old high school building into the area above the elementary school. “There is less ground to cover,” she said.
The SRO is present to handle criminal matter when they arise during the school day. The officers are not called upon to enforce school policies or discipline students. They do handle truancy.
“The support of the SRO to our students, parents and staff has been great,” Price said. “The end result is to help our students succeed in any way we can and sometimes that help isn’t always in the classroom.”
Sheriff Gravelle received much positive feedback from having an SRO presence in the school building, even receiving letters from state representatives praising the program.
“We got some really good feedback from a lot of the kids and their parents [indicating] that if this can keep on track like this, some of the parents who moved their kids out of the school to other areas will be bringing them back,” Gravelle said.
