CLASSROOM SAFETY IN SCHOOLS

While school officials are focusing on school bus safety, law enforcement officials are focusing on the safety of our classrooms. Police officers throughout the southeast were in Dothan yesterday to begin a week-long training on protecting our schools. WDHN was on hand yesterday, and Kevin McRee is one of twelve police officers visiting the City of Dothan for a 40-hour-week long class in hopes of becoming a Certified School Resource Officer. Officers are going over topics like disaster management, crisis plans, and how to maintain a safe enviornment for every school. The goal of the training is to make officers better at what they do, and give them tools to work in school and be productive...also make schools safe and secure...just have a better level of security environment for the teachers and students. By Friday, officers will officially be trained to work with youth, parents and staff in schools on a daily basis. Dothan City Schools currently have 7 SRO Officers...two in the high schools, four in the middle schools and one at Houston Academy. Officers believe it`s important to get involved early before it is too late. McRee says serving as a School Resource Officer is his way of getting involved in the community and making a difference in student`s lives. Dothan is one of two cities in the state that has a supervisor for the SRO Officers.