BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho — When Rob Ditch started his career as a school principal, he did not expect how the job description would change.
“The string of school shootings that we've had over the past several years has really kind of changed the landscape of education in a lot of ways,” Ditch said. “When I started my career, it was more about preserving order.”
Now, Ditch’s number one priority is keeping students and faculty safe. He said school resource officers are a big help in achieving that goal.
Blaine County School District and Hailey Police Department leaders agree.
This year, there is a new SRO agreement for the school district. The two Hailey Police SROs will cover five schools. This is an increase from the three schools they monitored last year, said Jim Foudy, Blaine County School District Superintendent.
He said additional law enforcement officers from different agencies will provide coverage to the three remaining schools in the district.
“This is an ongoing effort to provide the highest safety measures for all of our schools throughout the community,” Foudy said.
Not only is the new SRO plan expanding coverage, it is also cutting costs for the district. Before this year, Hailey Police Chief Steve England said the Blaine County School District paid for SROs during all twelve months.
With this new agreement, the City of Hailey is picking up the summer months. England said he believes this new agreement will hopefully give parents peace of mind sending their kids to school.
“There's a lot of you know, a lot of tension and anxiety throughout the community and nationwide,” England said. “And, so we wanted to make sure between the city and the school board that we were all on the same page.”
The school district’s response to an emergency was tested last year during a scare at Wood River Middle School, Ditch said. A popped balloon in a bathroom, which someone called in as a possible gun shot, led to a full response by law enforcement.
“It was, you know, kind of a scary event for the people in the building because we really didn't know what we were dealing with at the time,” he said.
England said the incident was a learning experience.
“It was a good wake up call for us,” he said. “We were able to fix all those things that didn't go so well and improve upon those and hopefully, [have an] even better response and quicker coverage next time.”
Having SROs in the building is a decision Ditch said hopefully helps prevents tragic events.
“It increases the feelings of safety in the school because we have the SRO here,” Ditch said. “I actually really just find them to be a kind of an indispensable part of my team here at the school.”
Calling an official when you hear something suspicious is also extremely important to keeping one’s community safe, Foudy said. He encourages people keep an ear open at all times.
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