School resource officers offer safety, guidance and friendships at Lincoln middle schools

It’s been a year now since Lincoln decided to put police officers in our middle schools.

With school gun violence being a big issue, it looks like it’s worked well.

Officer Kathryn Meade of the Lincoln Police Department has been at Hazel G. Scott Middle School for just about a year now.

“I love this job. I was a teacher before I was a school resource officer, and so it’s like the perfect blend of the kids, the education, and also the helping with the police side,” SRO Kathryn Meade said.

Within her time here, she has made friends, become a mentor and ultimately provided a kind of safety that allows the learning environment to continue amid the recent violent activity that has shaken the national education system.

“So some days I’m an informal counselor, sometimes I have to be a police officer, a teacher, a friend,” Meade said.

The learning community has become very receptive. “You’ll see her out on recess, you’ll see her here in the cafeteria, in the multi–purpose room, you’ll see her walking the halls. Many times, she’s sitting down with a student,” Principal at Scott Middle School, Marco Pedroza said. 

The students say they have come to welcome her as family. “…talk to you in the halls and just talk to you or just be kind and ask you how your day is, just make you feel good,” 6th grader, Maryn Lotman said. 

“In elementary we just had teachers and now since we have an officer, it’s a lot better and it’s a lot safer,” 6th grader, Jadyn Hazzard said. 

Officer Meade is always trying to check in with the regular kids, to let them know that there is another caring adult in the building for them.

“I would love to have her here 100 percent of the time!” Principal Pedroza said. 

Meade believes there’s a benefit for having a SRO in every school.

“We do build those relationships with those kids so maybe in the future it deters them from making a bad choice or if they ever come in contact with a police officer, they’ve at least had that positive contact within the schools,” Meade said.

The school feels a strong and regular collaboration between administration, structure, and her presence as the new approach to safety in education.