(Middlefield, OH) - Establishing positive relationships with the staff and students at Cardinal Local Schools has always been a top priority for the district. Whether that looks like seeing staff support their students at after school activities or guiding students to their future career plans after graduation, relationships are always special in their small town.
At the July 24, 2024 Board of Education regular meeting, Lieutenant Aaron Graley from the Middlefield Police Department presented the Cardinal Board of Education with a brief description of what they will provide with a Community Resource Officer for the district beginning in August.
“The Cardinal Local School district is excited to welcome Officer Daughters to our campus. She has already hit the ground running at the start of the year, where she is building relationships with our student body and staff,” said Cardinal Schools superintendent Jack Cunningham. “Although we have always enjoyed and appreciated the visibility of the Village Police department in and around our district, it is nice to know that presence will be on a full-time basis throughout the school year. We salute Mayor Garlich, as well as other members of Village Council and the Police department, for their efforts to make the Community Police Officer position a reality in Cardinal Local Schools. The work you did completed an important process that our board of education and community has inquired about over the past couple of years.”
In a 2018 article from Cleveland.com, it was unsure of how many exact Community Resource Officers there were in Ohio’s schools, but an estimated 70% of the state’s 614 schools, there were at least one officer that was recorded. However, only a small number of schools have a full-time Resource Officer on duty in the buildings.
According to Patrick O’Donnell who writes for Cleveland.com, “the first ever Community Resource Officer position took place in Flint, Michigan during the 1950’s to help build better relationships between police officers and students in the building.” Today, the officer position is now defined as an “officer that is stationed in schools, who is usually armed, who also handles security and helps counsel and mentor students,” (O’Donnell, 2018).
After the Columbine High School shooting occurred in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, the use of a Resource Officer quickly increased. The increase happened because of possible factors such as, “concerns about rising rates of juvenile crime in the 1990’s, the federal government’s funding of community policing programs beginning with the 1994 crime bill and its establishment of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program,” (Sawchuk, 2021). With help from the U.S. Department of Justice, there have also been a number of grants that are available to school districts to help fund their Resource Officer.
As Cardinal continues to keep their students, staff, and other employees' health and safety as their top priority they have implemented multiple safety protocols inside the district.
During the summer, the district had bolo sticks set up on all of the interior doors of each district building in which the district received through a grant.The purpose of the bolo stick is for the device to act like a barricade to help increase protection, quick and easy lock down procedure, and lastly somewhat of a prevention for intruders.
The school district also had the AI software program of Zero Eyes installed in the Elementary and Jr./Sr. High Schools in which the software can “recognize and detect firearms in a short amount of time that then contacts first responders and with that, hopefully decreases the response time and could potentially save lives (Zero Eyes - Who We Are).” The software was established in 2018 by a team of former Navy SEALs, who look to protect families from school shooting incidents. Many of Zero Eyes’ employees are or were former members of the U.S. military.
As previously stated, the district continues to find ways to increase safety procedures.
Officer Brooke Daughters graduated from Geneva High School, a district with well over 150 students in their graduating class, where it is located in Ashtabula County. She would go on to graduate from Lakeland Community College Basic Police Academy in the Fall of 2023. Her instructor was Middlefield’s own, Lieutenant Aaron Graley. Daughters was hired in March of 2024 in a full-time Road-Patrol Officer position with the Middlefield Police Department.
“I chose to become a Police Officer to show my two children that they can follow their dreams,” said Daughters. “Becoming a Police Officer has been my career goal since I was in Kindergarten, drawing myself in uniform in front of a police cruiser in crayon.”
The fit seemed almost perfect for Daughters and Cardinal Schools. She described herself as an officer who looks to build relationships with the staff and students.
“I chose to become the Community Resource Officer in the Cardinal Local Schools because I aspire to build a positive relationship with the students and keep them safe while they can still focus on learning,” said Daughters of her new role.
Daughters began her new chapter on Thursday, August 15th with the students’ first day of the 2024-2025 school year.
“My goal as the Community Resource Officer in the Cardinal Schools, is to prove to the students that Police Officers are humans too. I want to show the students, not only are we there to keep them safe, but Police Officers are someone that they can come to in confidence where they can create a positive relationship as well. Police Officers only want to help people to the best they can and keep the community strong,” said Daughters on what her goals are for the first year in the district.
“I am very excited to have Officer Daughters on campus at Cardinal Elementary School,” said second year principal, Robert Kujala. “Her presence provides a level of comfort to families in the knowledge that we have access and support from law enforcement in real time. In addition, Officer Daughters creates a safer environment for our students, providing them with a trusted adult who can offer guidance, support, and a sense of security which helps build the Cardinal Elementary School culture and community.”
“We are excited to welcome Officer Daughters to the Cardinal Local School District team. It is positive to have her in the district everyday. She has already made a difference by building positive rapport with our students and by having a presence in and around our building,” said Jr./Sr. High School principal Paul Gerycz.
When she talked about her favorite part of her day, she described the atmosphere that she gets when walking through the hallways.
“My favorite part of my day as a Community Resource Officer is walking up and down the halls of Cardinal Schools seeing the smiles on the student’s faces, receiving hugs, answering their questions, hearing their goofy jokes, and simply saying hi to them. I am also looking forward to seeing the students dominate in their sport activities and grow into bright young adults,” said Daughters.
Cardinal joins Berkshire, Chardon, Kenston, and West Geauga as other school districts that use a Community Resource Officer in Geauga County.
References
O’Donnell, P. (2018). What does a School Resource Officer do? Cleveland.com Covering Northeast Ohio. https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/03/what_does_a_school_resource_officer_do.html#:~:text=The%20association%20estimates%20that%20there,would%20be%20covered%20full%2Dtime.
Sawchuk, S. (2021). School Resource Officers (SROs), Explained. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-resource-officer-sro-duties-effectiveness/2021/11#:~:text=In%201999%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Department,through%20the%20broader%20COPS%20funding.
How Does a School Door Barricade Protect Our Children? Bolo Stick - The Door Barricade Device. https://bolostick.com/school-door-barricade
Who We Are. Zero Eyes. https://zeroeyes.com/about-us/