A week or two into his new role as the School Resource Officer in Nevada, Lane VanderHart commented he’d met many incredible staff and students from all buildings and levels in the district, including at the school’s Nevada Community Resource Center.
“My goals this year are to develop a connection between the students and the police department; create a level of safety with presence before, after and during school hours; and involve students in school safety activities and events, if possible,” VanderHart said.
It’s been about a decade since the Nevada Schools and Nevada Police Department worked together to provide a full-time School Resource Officer. The reasons the position was dropped some years back had to do with budgeting and staffing shortages.
But, last year’s nearby Perry school shooting brought the conversation fully to the forefront, and leaders from both the City and Schools worked together to make sure it was a priority for the 2024-25 school year.
“The Nevada Community School District has had a strong partnership with the City of Nevada for many years and that has very much included the support of our local law enforcement agencies, both the City and County,” said Nevada Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steve Gray. “Having an SRO will only enhance that communication and collaboration.”
Gray noted the SRO position can provide a “safety-response-presence” aspect in the day-to-day operation of the schools. “Beyond that, we hope the SRO position can evolve to also encompass education and prevention, family engagement, and enhanced relational capacity with our students.”
Public Safety Director and Chief of Police Chris Brandes has several goals for the SRO position.
“Obviously, the initial idea is to increase school safety,” he said.
But there’s more to the relationship between an SRO and students, such as changing the dynamics of day-to-day situations. “We want the SRO to be a liaison between students and police officers. Most of the time when we are involved in a situation at the school, an ‘action’ has already happened and we’re responding to that action.”
With the SRO in the school district on a daily basis, Brandes hopes the officer can use his discretion and work a little more with students, so that the police can be more “proactive” and not always be put in the position of “reactive” enforcement.
VanderHart was chosen, Brandes said, because of his calm demeanor, good communication skills, and his ability to look beyond enforcement. Brandes would like to see better relationships, learning, and understanding for students leading to less need for enforcement actions down the road.
“I see Lane has someone who can apply policing in the most effective manner. I also believe he’s very relatable, and he’s seen first-hand how an SRO can be present and make a difference in a school, because he experienced having an SRO in his high school at Knoxville.”
Over the summer months, Brandes said, VanderHart attended a conference that had SRO-related training. The department will look for more of these training opportunities for the SRO in the times when school is not in session.
“For the SRO, most of the summer will be spent on continuing education and renewing law enforcement certification. The SRO may also do some patrol when school is out of session.” But during the school year, Brandes said, “I’m thoroughly committed to be sure he’s at school every day.”
The Nevada Police Department is excited to be providing a School Resource Officer once again. Since it’s been a while, Brandes noted, “there will be some refining of what this position looks like over this first school year.”
VanderHart is taking in everything he can during this first month of school. “I look forward to continuing to develop a relationship between the students and the Nevada Police Department. This experience has been a big shift from working nights and focusing my patrol on OWIs and drugs enforcement.”
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
