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Fourth in a six-part series.

GUILFORD COUNTY –  In the school of the 21st century, the sight of on-duty law enforcement officers has become commonplace throughout the country, particularly in middle and high schools.

But whether they are needed remains an issue of debate for Guilford County Schools officials.

Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis of High Point started the debate again recently when he suggested replacing school resource officers, or SROs, with private security to save the $73,000-per-officer cost in middle schools. Also, a high-profile Sept. 16, 2009, incident at Ragsdale High School in which a sheriff’s deputy used a Taser stun gun on a 15-year-old female student after she allegedly threatened faculty members and assaulted the deputy also raised some controversy about stun guns.

Since then, officers have broken up several fights and filed charges against students at Eastern Guilford High School.

“I do like having an SRO here,” said Principal Lori M. Bolds at Welborn Academy of Science and Technology.

“I’m glad we have an officer. We have had a lot of really disturbing incidents happen on campus and off that involved our students,” a teacher at Southwest Guilford High School said in response to a recent High Point Enterprise e-mail survey about SROs in the schools. “I felt safe when I started here in 2002. I worry day to day what is going to happen next.”

Bolds’ staff works hard to reach out to troubled students, she said.

“By the time a student is suspended, we have tried to reach out four to five times with our various programs, our counselors and social worker,” Bolds said.

SROs not only protect students and faculty, they also serve as good role models, Lt. Steve Myers, administrative assistant to High Point Chief of Police Jim Fealy, said in a response to the e-mail survey about SROs in the schools.

“Because SROs are on campus every day, they develop positive relationships with students and faculty which enable them to gain information that may allow the officer to intervene before a problem arises,” Myers wrote, “as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Law enforcement chiefs meeting with district leaders earlier this year backed the need for sworn officers in the schools.

“SROs are sworn law enforcement officers with hundreds of hours of training,” Myers said. “This is something security guards may not possess. Sworn officers are taught to state standards on how to use force and how much can be used. This should be a comforting thought for parents knowing that state standards have to be met before force can be used.”

dnivens@hpe.com | 888-3626

SERIES BREAKOUTS

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SUNDAY: The role of the modern principal, teacher

MONDAY: Though not without critics, standardized testing a fact of life

TUESDAY: Chalkboards, textbooks becoming things of the past

TODAY: The new face of school discipline

THURSDAY: Magnet school, alternative programs grow in popularity

FRIDAY: The challenges ahead; Obama’s Race to the Top