School Resource Officer Approved For Central Lee

The Lee County Board of Supervisors held their weekly meeting on Tuesday morning and the most heavily discussed topic was an agreement with the Central Lee School District to implement a School Resource Officer.

Central Lee Superintendent Andy Crozier was in attendance and discussed some of the moves the school district has made in response to events like the Parkland School shooting, but because of their location it may not be enough were an incident to occur.

“If we would have an issue we are about eight minutes from the sheriff’s office and that’s with them driving about 100 miles per hour. So, heaven forbid if there was ever an incident at Central Lee Schools, we would be at the mercy of whatever would be taking place without the protection of a School Resource Officer,” Crozier said.

The Board unanimously approved the motion and voiced their agreement that it was important for the school district to have the officer on site.

“I think this officer at your school is a really positive step for the safety of the children,” supervisor Ron Fedler told Superintendent Crozier.

Deputy Tom Oberman will serve as the School Resource Officer and Crozier said this is important as he is familiar with the school district and served as their DARE Officer during the past year.

“You want that protection from a school resource officer, but I think more importantly is you want that positive relationship between our students and an individual,” Crozier said.

Oberman is not the only member of the sheriff’s office who knows the school well as Sheriff Stacy Weber and his staff have held exercises in the buildings to get to know the layouts were they needed to respond to a call.

Sheriff Weber also said the office has studied past school shootings and has created a rapid response team that has the necessary SWAT gear in case they are needed.

This is a three year agreement between the county and Central Lee that will be revisited again in two years to see if any adjustments need to be made.