Are our children safe in school?
SRO program at Lincoln Community High School works to assure the safety of students and staff

[March 01, 2018] 

LINCOLN

As a parent, grandparent, guardian, or even young person, it may be hard to fathom how that any child could willfully take a gun to school and start shooting. With cold, calculating malice, a child, that’s right a child, takes the lives of teachers and classmates. There is no understanding how things like this can happen. But we as parents, grandparents, guardians, and even young people have to ask ourselves, can this happen here? Are there kids in our schools with the ability to do such a terrible thing?

At Lincoln Community High School, School Resource Officer Tim Butterfield recently said that a person would be foolish to believe that something like that is not possible at LCHS. But, he added that he believes the schools is doing everything possible to prevent such an incident, starting with the School Resource Officer, initiatives such as more than 100 cameras in the school, and a tip-line on the school website that sends information to Butterfield for investigation.

Steps to protect our children began five years ago when the school and Lincoln Police Department partnered to initiate the School Resource Officer (SRO) program at LCHS.

The position was created under the authority of the city of Lincoln City Council and the LCHS District 404 Board of Education. The partnership called for a city of Lincoln police officer to become a full-time fixture at the school. The role of the officer would be to display a law enforcement presence in the school, and to also be a ‘go to’ person with concerns about safety in the school.

This includes acting as an informal counselor to students, being a classroom speaker, and assisting as needed with disciplinary actions at the request of Assistant Principal Rhonda Hyde.

Lincoln Police Officer Tim Butterfield was hired to fill the position. Last year saw the first graduating class in which he had known and interacted with the students their entire high school career. Speaking recently about his role at the high school, he said that watching the students graduate was a great moment, and he marveled at some of the students who wore those caps and gowns. He had seen days when he wondered, would they graduate? Would they stick it out, and in the end they had.

Butterfield said that he felt the move to an SRO program at the school has had a very positive impact on students. He noted that as a result of the SRO program, along with the improved surveillance and security at the school, critical elements such as students fighting and theft have been greatly reduced over the past five years.

As an SRO, Butterfield attended a special training program sponsored through the National Association of School Resource Officers. The SRO training provided him with the tools for what the NASRO refers to as the “Triad” approach, to serve as law enforcement, teacher, and counselor.

Being an SRO opens doors for Butterfield that are sometimes closed to school officials. Even though Butterfield is considered a member of the school administration, he is also still a member of law enforcement. Because of this he has the right to investigate and ask questions, and share information that school officials are bound by law to keep confidential. Butterfield says the reason this is important is because he has the ability to interact with other schools, learn about students transferring into LCHS and offer information about students transferring out.

As a hypothetical example, he said a child coming to LCHS from an ‘anywhere USA’ school has a certain amount of information transferred. But, Butterfield as SRO has the right to contact the school, talk to teachers, and ask questions about character, behavior, interaction with other students, and identify any red flags.

Butterfield said, yes, there is a certain amount of ‘profiling’ done in the job, but it is necessary to see who a kid is on the inside. He spoke about some of the recent shootings and the publicity that followed. “You see the kids pictured all dressed for prom or in a football uniform, but you have to look at who they are the rest of the time.”

When shootings occur in other schools, it does have an impact locally on children and parents. Butterfield said it is very noticeable that for a period of time after such a shooting, he sees more activity from students and parents reporting “suspicious” activity, both first hand and also through the tip-line.

He said things tend to get blown out of proportion during these aftermaths, and kids and parents get sucked into it. As a result, Butterfield, who is keeping a watchful eye all the time, becomes all the more vigilant during these aftermaths, knowing that a small problem could turn into a big one if it isn’t handled correctly.

Talking about Parkland specifically, Butterfield said that he had not read any official reports, only what has shown up on news and social media. He said there should have been some warning signs that something was about to go terribly wrong for 19-year old Nikolas Cruz. Hearing that the young man owned 10 rifles, supposedly without the knowledge of his guardians, Butterfield said that in itself is part of the problem. How and why do parents not know what is going on in their kids lives?

Butterfield said lesson number one to all parents or guardians should be “be responsible.” Butterfield said, “As a guardian or a parent, from the moment you bring that child into your home, you are responsible.” Butterfield said that being a responsible parent isn’t always popular. A responsible parent is not a ‘best friend’, does not respect privacy, and does implement rules.

Butterfield went on to say that parents should be in their children’s “business” all the time. They should have access to Facebook accounts and other social media, and they need to know that many kids have more than one account: the one they share with their parents, and the one or more that they keep hidden. Parents need to dig and pry until they know of those accounts.

In addition, parents need to know that while Facebook is a popular social media for older adults, kids are steering away from that platform and are utilizing Instagram and Snapchat much more than their parents. A parent needs to be aware of all their child’s accounts on all forms of social media.

Butterfield said cell phones are not private property. Parents should be checking text messages to see who their kids are talking to and what is being said.

He also encourages parents to go into their kid’s rooms and just look around. Again, a child has no right to privacy when it comes to drugs, alcohol, weapons, and destructive behavior. What is in their rooms could be a big indicator of what is going on in their minds. Finding out can be an important step to assisting a child that is dealing with emotional trauma.

Of course, sometimes it is all easier said than done. But Butterfield said parents need to be strong if they want to raise strong kids. They should teach their kids that life isn’t always “fair” and that there are proper ways to deal with difficult situations and hard times.

At the school, the job of the SRO can also provide an open forum for parents. Along with Assistant Principal Hyde, Butterfield will make himself available to hear from parents when they have concerns. He said this is important for the school, but it is also important for the parents. He noted that there are times, when a parent really doesn’t want to share with family or friends that their child has a problem. Hyde and Butterfield can become a sounding board for those concerns, assist parents with addressing the problems and as-needed can help parents connect with other counseling experts for the child.

Butterfield said in addition to himself and Ms. Hyde, the school has two guidance counselors who are trained to help address family issues and a counselor from a local mental health service is also available.

Another portion of Butterfield's job includes classroom time. He said on a regular basis he goes into classrooms for an open forum session with the kids. He said kids may ask whatever questions they wish. Some of the questions he said he can’t answer in the classroom because of privacy rules, but many of the questions are about life situations and he can help with that.

Teaching kids how to cope with difficulties is an important part of preparing them for the world outside of school. Life isn’t going to be easy.

There are always going to be trouble makers, and problems a person has to deal with in their personal life. Teaching kids in childhood that violence, revenge, retaliation is not the answer will give those kids a good start in dealing with the problems they may face in adulthood.

Asked about the relationships he forms with the students, Butterfield said that the relationships change throughout the school year. When school begins, he lays down the rules as a member of law enforcement. He said he is stern in his attitude toward kids, holding to the rules and the consequence if they don’t. At that time he feels most of the kids see him as an officer of the law, a “cop” if you will.

But as the school year progresses, the relationship becomes a little more relaxed. Butterfield wants the kids to see him as law enforcement, but also as a mentor and counselor, someone they can trust and can talk to about all their concerns. He added that he really wouldn’t say that close friendships are formed, but at the same time, when a student invites him to attend their graduation party it is gratifying.

Finally, Butterfield talked about the tip line that is available to students. “See it, Hear it, Report it,” is a web based tip line that was developed for Butterfield by students in the technology classes at LCHS. On the school website there is a box with a link to the SRO web page containing Butterfield’s email address and scrolling further down on the page a link to an anonymous tip line via email.

The tip line is open to all, so even concerned citizens outside of the school system can use the tip line to report something they may know or have heard.

Butterfield said that although he researches every tip he hears, sometimes that is an extremely difficult job. He urges people to give accurate information, and not to embellish the facts to make things sound worse than they really are. He adds that while he wants to hear everything parents and students have concerns about, there are lines that have to be drawn.

No matter what school a child attends, there are going to be cases when certain kids just don’t like each other. Name calling in the hallways and teasing are something that no one is going to be able to control or stop completely. When such incidents turn to bullying, physical contact, and threats of bodily harm, that is when he is going to step in and call kids into his office to talk about their attitude and behavior.

Butterfield offered the following statements:  “When it comes to school safety, we take it very seriously and we will notify people just as soon as we feel it is necessary to do so.”

Until it comes from the school, “Don’t believe everything you hear and see. Social media can be toxic."

He concluded that we as parents need to be vigilant, but not act as vigilantes, don’t prey on other parents or their children because someone somewhere said….”

Butterfield also noted that the school has implemented the “IloveUguys” Standard Response Protocol and is working to make sure that the entire community understands the protocol, which will be followed in the event of not just violence in the school but also natural disaster or other crisis or catastrophic situations.

Learn More about the Safety Resource Officer Program:
To Protect & Educate: The School Resource Officer and the Prevention of Violence in Schools

[Nila Smith]