The resource officers you see in your children’s school provide an important service for the districts and the communities they serve. According to Education Week, approximately 45 percent of schools in the United States had a school resource officer (SRO) in place at least one day a week as of the 2017-2018 school year, which was up from 32 percent just a decade before. In Door County, Sturgeon Bay Police Officer Derek Jennerjohn and Door County Sheriff’s Deputies Blake Luebker (Southern Door), Heather Bemmann (Gibraltar), and Ashley DePas (Sevastopol) serve their respective districts as SROs. Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Deputies Nia DuBois and Dana Schopf (Luxemburg-Casco) and Kewaunee Police Officer Scott Szydel (Kewaunee) serve as the SROs for their respective districts. Kewaunee County Sheriff Matt Joski says it takes a different mindset to serve as an SRO because of the kind and concentration of people you deal with daily.
Joski is proud of the relationships the SROs have established at their respective schools in their years of service. Last week, school districts and law enforcement agencies nationwide celebrated National School Resource Officer Day on February 15th.
FROM SHERIFF MATT JOSKI
As I continue in providing information on the annual operations of the Sheriff’s Department, I feel this is a great time to focus on the amazing school liaison resources which we share with our school districts. If we look at the makeup of our community on any given week day, there is no greater concentration of people and activity than that of our schools. It is fitting that we allocate resources to these important members of our community; our students, in a setting which has such a great impact on their current and future lives.
As it pertains to the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department, we provide two School Liaison Deputies to the Luxemburg / Casco School District as part of a contract for services. These positions and their duties are quite unique and the skill set necessary to be successful is also unique. We are very fortunate to have the two Deputies we currently provide to the school who possess the very traits and qualities to make this a successful relationship. Deputy Nia DuBois is our School Liaison Deputy for the High School, and Deputy Dana Schopf is our Liaison Deputy for the Primary, Intermediate and Middle Schools. Both of these young ladies bring with them a great deal of energy and passion for working with our youth, and the relationships they have built over the years has been a great benefit to not only the students, but the staff as well.
Just as in any community, those school communities experience a great diversity in personalities, backgrounds and behaviors. The ability to have a law enforcement resource at hand when incidents arise has proven essential time and time again.
Another valuable aspect of this program is the ability for our Deputies to have daily interaction and engagement in a positive way to demonstrate that the men and women serving in law enforcement are in fact human beings who can serve as not just a resource for filing complaints or conducting investigations, but also as a trusted resource of advice and mentorship for the many challenges our young people face day in and day out.
These roles, while rewarding, are probably some of the most demanding in our department. The complaints they are called to investigate and the sensitivity that they must show require a great deal of empathy, compassion and patience. The ability to interact effectively with Students, staff and parents is key to maintaining the trust needed for such a program to be successful.
In addition to all of this responsibility, both of these amazing ladies return back to the Jail/ Dispatch role when needed as well as during the summer months.
Thank you, Nia and Dana, for all that you do in our schools to keep our students safe and assist the staff in creating the best learning environment possible.
