August 30, 2018 Vol. 19, No. 14
In This Issue ROUGH CUT SWISS
Rough Cut Swiss, in real life, is located in front of Othello’s Restaurant at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway, but this week it is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information see page 4.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 Sunny High 96° Low 77°
PHOTO BY JENNIFER WAGNON
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 Sunny High 94° Low 74°
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 Partly cloudy High 91° Low 73°
LABOR DAY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 Partly cloudy High 89° Low 72°
For almost 20 years, the Edmond Public Schools have used Edmond Police officers for campus security through the School Resource Office (SRO) program. Officers providing a law enforcement presence at high schools and middle schools are, from left, Sgt. Gerald Dixon, Santa Fe High School; Lt. Derick Pickard, SRO supervisor; Sgt. Dack Pearson, Boulevard Academy and Sequoyah Middle School; Sgt. Bervis Littles, Memorial High School; Sgt. Nick Tant, Heartland, Central, Cimarron and Cheyenne middle schools; and Sgt. Tom Williams, North High School. By Steve Gust Edmond Schools are planning to invest up to $400,000 this year into its School Resource Officer (SRO) security program. Officials believe it’s worth every cent. “Edmond students are blessed every minute of every day by the selfless service of our police department,” said associate superintendent Debbie Bendick, who works closely with the program. Edmond Schools superintendent Bret Towne said this school year the district will employ up to eight uniformed and armed SRO’s - with one full time member at each of the three high schools and the others split between the district’s middle schools and Boulevard Academy, on a rotating basis. Boulevard Academy, an alternative school, helps an estimated 250 high school students a year who may have fallen behind on their
studies. This marks the 19th year Edmond schools have used police to help protect thousands of students attending high school. It began in 1999 when off duty officers were assigned to high schools. Bendick said that changed In August 2000, when the Edmond PD assigned on-duty officers to the SRO post. A few years later middle schools were added for law enforcement protection The cost to the district is $25,000 each semester for each SRO. Serving the schools are Edmond officers Dack Pearson, Bervis Littles, Gerald Dixon, Tom Williams, Nick Tant and SRO supervisor Lt. Derick Pickard. A separate contract is needed for Summit Middle School. That campus is in Oklahoma City. They use Deputy Brent Zweifel of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office. Board member Kathleen Duncan wondered at the meeting if officers
gave talks on the consequences of illegal drug or alcohol abuse. Santa Fe High School principal Jason Hayes told the board said his SRO annually gives a talk to incoming Santa Fe freshmen on “making the right choices.” Duncan hoped all the SROs would be able to give such presentations. Bendick, a former principal at Memorial High School, said the officers make even a bigger difference when interacting “oneon-one,” with a teen to explain drug dangers. Perhaps the top priority for an SRO is in providing an immediate law enforcement presence at a school, Bendick explained. Yet students aren’t their only concern. “Our SRO’s have also provided parents education, speaking to PTOs and other gatherings that provide focused attention to topics that parents and continued on Page 3