Friday, March 29, 2024

School Resource Officers Provide Safety and Life Skills

As you know, Southlake School Resource Officers are in the Carroll ISD schools as an added layer of protection to help keep children safe, but you might not be aware of all that they do to enhance the learning process for students both inside and outside of the classroom.  SRO’s serve as mentors to students and provide opportunities for them to learn and grow and to get hands-on experiences they can use in their daily lives.

For example:

  • SRO Cory Rattan teaches drug awareness and the dangers of drug use to students.  He also holds a class on accident reconstruction to help them understand the importance of learning math and algebra.  Officer Rattan also mentors students through the “Dragon Hero” program which reinforces doing good deeds for others.
  • SRO Allen Smith teaches a course on “Energy transference” – a basic course in using the information for life skills such as jump-starting a car; a very practical use for courses that enhance the student’s understanding of courses taught at CISD.  He also shows students how to do basic things like a change a flat tire.Allen Smith car
  • SRO Brett Wilson instructs her students (and parents) on cell phone safety and the appropriate age for a child to have a cell phone as well as what parents should be monitoring.  Officer Wilson also teaches a course on suicide prevention and how to recognize other signs of calls for help including “cutting” or other self- destructive acts.
  • SRO Cheryl Womack mentors students in art and P.E. She works with them on displaying good behavior and those who do well get to spend one-on-one time with SRO Womack.

This week as part of National Distracted Driving month SRO Blas Hernandez created a unique way to get the message out to teens who drive. He had students paint their thumbs green so that when their hands grip the steering wheel they will see the Dragon green colors and it’s a reminder to not text and drive or drive distracted.  It’s important to reach teens early because distracted driving is 6x’s more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Here are some other startling facts:

  • 3,328 people were killed from distracted driving in 2012. Over 420,000 people were injured. This is a 9% increase from 2011.
  • Drivers 15-19 years old involved in fatal crashes, 21% of the distracted drivers were distracted by the use of cell phones.
  • Texting & driving drivers take their eyes off the road for a minimum of 4.6 seconds.

(Visit www.distraction.gov / Faces to hear the personal stories of families left without their loved ones.)green thumb Blas

Officer Hernandez, along with our Community Initiatives Coordinators, also provided a “Take the Pledge” card to teens to remind them of these statistics and to have them sign a pledge card promising to never drive distracted.

Officer Hernandez also teaches a course on cyber-bulling. His goal is to teach students how negatively cyber-bulling can impact another student’s life, health and well-being.  These examples are just a sampling of the kind of mentoring and proactive educational instruction classes provided by our Southlake School Resource Officers. They not only provide a safe environment for students to learn and grow but our SRO’s are also helping students beyond the classroom.

For more information about our SRO programs feel free to talk with the SRO at your child’s school or contact the SRO supervisor Sgt. John Stokes at jstokes@ci.southlake.tx.us.

An image of a family bowling and dining

Photo of a solar eclipse