GALION — Northmor Local Schools is taking the next step to ensure student safety during the school year.
During a Northmor Local Schools Board of Education meeting Aug. 20, the board approved the hiring of a school resource officer through the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office.
The resource officer will be a full-time Morrow County deputy stationed at the school. It will be the first resource officer at Northmor, according to Northmor Superintendent Chad Redmon.
“I’m excited,” Redmon said. “I think it is a real win-win for the district and the community.”
Redmon said the decision was made in light of recent incidents that have occurred at schools around the country. Northmor, itself, experienced a gun threat in February 2018 the same day a bomb threat was made at Crestline Exempted Village Schools and during a week when approximately a dozen threats were made throughout the region.
Morrow County Sheriff John Hinton said it was a conversation he and Redmon had been having for a while.
“It’s something I’ve wanted since becoming sheriff,” Hinton said. “I’m excited. The decision has support from the community, too. At the (school board) meeting, I thought it would just be the board and us, but there were community members who came to show support of the decision.”
Hinton said an in-house officer also allows for an immediate response to a crisis.
“Northmor is the northern-most school in Morrow County and in the athletic central district,” Hinton said. “Depending where a patrolling deputy is, it could be a 20-minute response time without the resource officer at the school.”
He said, in some cases, a deputy may be as far as a half hour away from Northmor if he or she is in the southern region of the county near Ashley.
“I graduated from Northmor,” Hinton said. “We used to joke about it being surrounded by three cornfields. So, this is huge to be able to have someone there to help the district immediately.”
Hinton said it also is a bonus that Northmor has one K-12 building for students in the district. He said the county deputy at Highland Local Schools has three separate buildings to interact with.
Both Hinton and Redmon said the benefits of having a school resource officer far exceed just safety. Both said it is important for students and the officer to build relationships and a bridge for students to feel comfortable approaching law enforcement for help if needed.
“It helps let the students know they have someone to turn to if they need it,” Hinton said.
Hinton said the job posting was listed and will be closed Aug. 27. He and Redmon both intend for the officer to be in the school Sept. 4 for the district’s first day of school.