WITH THE START OF THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR JUST OVER A MONTH AWAY, "WE'LL BE LOOKING AT ONE DEPUTY AT EACH SCHOOL SITE"---Associate Superintendent John Bryant     

The Associate Superintendent for Administrative Services of Henderson County’s Public School system, John Bryant, tells WHKP News that “It is the intention of county leadership and our school system leadership to have school resource officers at each of our school sites as soon as possible.”

With the new school year set to start in just over a month, for students on the “traditional” school calendar, Bryant pointed out that county commissioners have funded the sheriff’s department to hire those sro’s. Bryany said, “I know they are working on the recruitment and training of them now.”

“We have sro’s at 22 school sites. We have 23 schools---the Career Academy and Early College share one”, said Bryant. There are currently resource officers assigned to our high schools and middle schools, Bryant says, and they are working on the recruitment, the hiring and the training of sro’s to place at each of our elementary schools as well as soon as possible.

Bryant says the Hendersonville Police Department has already identified those individuals (sro’s) and they are already in service at the FLEX calendar schools, Bruce Drysdale and Hendersonville Elementary Schools, inside the city.

Going forward into the new public school year, Bryant says “We’ll be looking at one deputy at each school site.” Once what Bryant calls “the target” is fully implemented, with the individuals they are seeking for the sro positions, there will be one officer at each individual school in the county.

The sro’s go through a very clear training structure, says Bryant. Each one, he says, receives training through the North Carolina Association of School Resource Officers which is a very specific training regimen The sro’s, says Bryant, “...become a great asset to the schools and to the students as well as providing safety and security measures. We regularly meet with our resource officers, providing training by their agencies.”

In addition to sro’s, Bryant says there is funding place for facility changes and "..we are working to engage outside agencies for a full safety assessment of our schools and our school campuses.” He said school officials are exploring all facility needs and improvements in their practices and procedures”.

Bryant said he is absolutely confident that Henderson County public schools will be safer when the new school year begins. “One of the things I am most proud of as a member of the school system and as a member of this community is anytime you draw attention to something, you’re focusing on the opportunity to improve it”, Bryant told WHKP News.“Every conversation, every effort, every dollar, he says, is insuring the safety of our students.”

Bryant adds, “We are so very fortunate to have extraordinary staff members, men and women who serve in public education in this community...and exceptional people who serve in local law enforcement and emergency services, first responders, and community leadership that all have the same goal in mind and that’s to insure the safety of our children. Every step we are taking is a step toward a safer school community.” .

By WHKP News Ditrector Larry Freeman with Tippy Creswell