2018 Education

Page 30 2018 EDUCATION MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MARCH 1, 2018 A s 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 Are our children safe in school? SRO program at Lincoln Community High School works to assure the safety of students and staff CONTINUED →