City of Wautoma & WASD Create Full-Time School Resource Officer Position

A little over a week following the Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, TX, on May 24, 2022, the Riverview Elementary Staff, City of Wautoma Police Department and Waushara County School Resource Officer made certain increased security and safety measures were in place for their end of the year picnic. As families and students gathered to celebrate the conclusion of the school year with their teachers and friends, City of Wautoma Police Chief Paul Mott, Waushara County School Resource Officer Deputy Lafe Hendrickson, Wautoma Area School District Administrator Tom Rheinheimer, and then Riverview Principal Jewel Mucklin started talking about the need for increased law enforcement presence within the district. “School safety and security are top priorities regardless of what is going on in the world around us,” stated Mucklin, who will be taking over as the district administrator for WASD on July 1. “The district shares a School Resource Officer (SRO) with surrounding districts, so both proactivity and response in safety and emergency situations were considered when the SRO was out of district.” Since this initial discussion took place a year ago, the City of Wautoma Police Department and WASD Administration have held a number of conversations about the potential of creating a full-time SRO exclusively for WASD while keeping the School Board and the City Council aware of their potential plan. “This was definitely a collaborative effort amongst the Wautoma Area School District, Sheriff’s Department and City of Wautoma Police Department. The brainstorming conversation from the picnic resulted in the City of Wautoma Police Chief collaborating with the Sheriff’s Department,” Mucklin explained. “With the support of the Sheriff’s Department to make the change, the idea of Wautoma Area School District having a full-time SRO was discussed with both the City of Wautoma Common Council and the Wautoma Area School Board.” Upon approval of the SRO contract by the City of Wautoma and the Wautoma Area School Board in April 2023, the new WASD full-time school resource officer will be welcomed at each of the four schools within the District at the start of the 2023-2024 school year. “By having all parties in support of this transition, the school district no longer will have a School Resource Officer who is shared with multiple districts,” Mucklin said. “The SRO will be able to continue to coordinate efforts between the district and other agencies to promote a safe and healthy school environment. Additionally, consistency and building positive relationships with our students, staff, and families is a huge benefit.” The new City of Wautoma School Resource Officer will be funded through a partnership between the WASD and the City of Wautoma. “The Wautoma Area School District would pay the salaried portion of the School Resource Officer’s salary from Community Service Fund 80 in the school district’s budget,” explained Rheinheimer. According to Mott, the position will not reduce any service in patrol operations and each agency is responsible for different costs of the position. He also emphasized there will not be any change in SRO services to Redgranite Elementary School, as a mutual aid contract has been drafted by the City of Wautoma and is currently being reviewed by the Redgranite Police Department. In this mutual aid contract, the School Resource Officer will be able to assist the Village of Redgranite Law Enforcement Officers as needed, especially as it pertains to supporting our students and families. “The Wautoma Police Department cannot function at 100 percent unless we are partnering with all agencies, businesses, and organizations in the community,” Mott said. “WASD is one of our largest community partners utilizing police services. We have to work as a team in order to provide the safest environment for our children to learn. The teamwork between WPD and WASD Administration often seeks out and prevents safety concerns before they happen.” When looking at who may be interested in taking the position completely focused on WASD, current Waushara County School Resource Officer Deputy Lafe Hendrickson was at the top of the list. “SRO Hendrickson was previously assigned to the Wautoma Area School District as a part-time SRO and brings this experience to the new position. Anyone who has interacted with SRO Hendrickson in his 13 years at WASD knows why he was selected,” Mott said. “SRO Hendrickson has established connections with students in all grade levels. He has impacted the lives of many and has been able to keep students on a positive path, while also protecting staff and students.” Having over 23 years of experience with the Waushara County Sheriff’s Department, Hendrickson is looking forward to this new opportunity to work exclusively with the WPD and WASD in order to build lasting relationships. “My job as a good SRO is to establish connections with students, parents and the schools to be a healthy resource for them to traverse the challenges of the school experience,” he said. “Establishing trust and creating a restorative approach to my students has been very successful over the years and has proven benefits.” Hendrickson added he is excited for the new possibilities this new position will offer by only having to focus on one school district. “As you can imagine it is a challenge to manage a schedule for nine schools with multiple events, personalities, and expectations. To be able to dedicate my efforts to the Wautoma Area Schools will be an exciting opportunity for me to see how far I can take the program for our schools.” Mott added that Hendrickson will be providing the same quality of services as he has in previous years with safety the priority. “We plan to start multi-agency training for active threat incidents and will include EMS, Fire, and Police working together to provide the best response we can to these incidents,” he said. Since 1996, the Waushara County School Resource Officer position has been contracted with the Wautoma Area School District and the Wild Rose Area School District, while teaching D.A.R.E. in the Tri-County Area and Westfield Area (Coloma) Schools since former Sheriff David R. Peterson started the program. “I am regularly hearing from students how they enjoyed the D.A.R.E. Program and miss having me in class,” Hendrickson said. “With the available D.A.R.E. curriculum, I will be able to give the WASD so much more support for grades K-12 as it relates to classroom time by supporting established curriculum, classroom teachers, and building administrators.” Hendrickson is also prepared to start more educational opportunities in the older grades as well, having only been able to focus on the 5th Grade D.A.R.E. Program up until now. “Besides providing 5th Grade D.A.R.E. programming, the School Resource Officer will provide classroom programming for 7th grade, 9th grade, Camp Parkside, and will also provide staff training in August,” explained Rheinheimer. In his new position, Hendrickson plans to remain visible in the community, offering assistance to the local Drivers Education programs, speaking on the challenges of technology with youth and, what he believes to be the biggest issue affecting families today, mental health. Mott agrees with Hendrickson that mental health issues continue to be a factor in the everyday lives of community members and are often the most frequent call to WPD from WASD. In order to assist with addressing these mental health concerns, Mott’s vision is to have a therapy dog patrolling the schools with SRO Hendrickson. “The therapy dog will help students in crisis while also building a connection between the SRO and community,” he said. “I see a therapy dog taking the place of handcuffs and traditional police response to the mental health crisis. Therapy dogs are proven to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, and improve students’ overall mental and physical health.” Hendrickson added, “The use of and proven benefits of therapy animals is exploding. Reduction in psychological, emotional and mental health concerns, trauma issues and overall physical health are continued to be observed by the experts. Law Enforcement’s ‘hard’ uniform look, oftentimes is a barrier to trauma sensitive people and immediately creates an unnecessary barrier. Anything that a professional officer can do to soften or deescalate a tense situation is what is needed.” With an increased law enforcement within WASD, the SRO can focus on a proactive approach by providing redirection and guidance to school aged children, according to Mucklin. “Our students benefit from having a fulltime SRO in the district because the position allows for law enforcement, mentoring, and educating to be all blended into a single role,” she said. Understanding school administrators are currently dealing with a wide range of issues every single day, Hendrickson believes his more focused role will aid in supporting administration on a daily basis. “As a resource officer, I am able to assist our administrative team with support, guidance, and direction as requested,” he said. “Providing additional resources relating to criminal referrals, truancy issues, deterrence options and follow-up investigations from start to finish.” Hendrickson has always believed WASD has been at the forefront of creating the safest environment possible. By having this increased law enforcement presence and readily available within the District throughout the school year, students, staff members, and visitors will hopefully feel a renewed sense of security when seeing an officer in their schools each day. Although Hendrickson may be changing departments, he still remains as loyal to the community and school district as he ever has been. “When it comes down to it, I really am just changing the color of my uniform and the department patch that I wear,” he said. “I will be doing the exact same job, just focusing my attention on the Fighting Hornets. Deputy Hendrickson will now be Officer Hendrickson.” Please contact the City of Wautoma Police Department at 920-787-4044 if you are interested in helping with the start-up costs for a therapy dog.