Homewood introduces second elementary SRO

There are plenty of fresh faces at Homewood’s elementary schools this fall, as new students enter their classrooms. But two of the new faces will be much older than the students they’re watching over: Stuart Shoupe and Kelly Johnson, Homewood City Schools’ elementary level school resource officers.

Assistant Superintendent Kevin Maddox said that up until this school year, HCS had full-time SROs at the high school and middle school. In 2013, the system introduced a single officer rotating between the three elementary schools each day. It was the Homewood Police Department, Maddox said, that came up with an idea to increase the elementary schools’ security: employing retired and reserve officers to act as the police presence on campus.

“Our conversations began last year with Chief [Tim] Ross and Sgt. [Keith] Smith really spearheading an effort to try to help us achieve the one-to-one ratio that we would love to have,” Maddox said. “The Homewood Police Department really should receive most of the credit for working out an arrangement that would allow us to have two SROs this year in our elementary schools as opposed to one.”

Maddox said Ross has taken an interest in school safety since he became chief at the beginning of 2016. Having SROs and a daily connection to the police department is good for the school environment, Maddox said, and has been approved by parents so far. The school system funds 80 percent of the cost for the officers, and the police funds the other 20 percent.

Johnson, a reserve officer of 30-years, and Shoupe, who retired two years ago after a 26-year career, are both in their first year acting as SROs. It’s quite a bit different from their former beats.

“Night and day difference from what I was doing,” said Johnson, who was previously a detective. “Clothes were a little more comfortable. They were non-polyester.”

“It’s a lot different, just the aspect of dealing with kids all the time, which is refreshing, actually,” Shoupe said. “This was just an opportunity for me to come back to the job that I love but do something a little bit different.”

Both officers had to go through special training to become SROs. Sgt. Keith Smith said not just any officer is a good fit for a school environment; it’s about personality as well as training. These officers are often the first encounter young Homewood students have with the police.

“It takes a certain understanding, a certain personality to be able to go into a school and function,” Maddox said of the SROs for all the schools.

“It gives those schools and those parents and those kids and those administrators that work there a sense of safety,” Smith said. “The second part of this [at] the elementary is to expose those kids to a police officer in a light that is good.”

The two officers spend their days on the move. Each one visits all three schools every day, though in different patterns. They arrive before 7:30 each morning to greet kids and staff as they arrive.

“They love the fact that I’m just there,” Shoupe said.

Throughout the day, they walk the halls and visit classrooms, making time to answer questions from kids. Johnson said he enjoys seeing the kids “light up” when they spot him. That part of the job is fun, but they’re always on the lookout for anyone who is somewhere they don’t belong or seems to act suspicious.

Maddox said school security has been a major goal for the school system as it worked on a strategic plan over the summer. His goal is that Shoupe and Johnson will be joined by a third officer in the 2018-2019 school year. At that point, each officer would be assigned to a single school rather than traveling between them.

“Certainly our intent is to have an officer in every single school by next year,” Maddox said. “I look forward to the day when there is no schedule. Your schedule is ‘Report to your school and you’re there all the time.’”