SRO: One job, many roles

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. - Corey Sisk’s job has many roles. At any time of the day in the Portageville School District, the school resource officer may be giving a hug to a kindergarten student, playing basketball with fifth graders, listening to concerns of an eighth grader or talking to high school seniors about the dangers of vaping.

But he is also a Portageville Police sergeant who wears a gun. Should there be a problem, he is there to ensure the safety of the students, teachers and staff.

Recently Sisk added another role. On July 1 he was named the Region E School Resource Officer state representative.

Now, he is working to give a voice to the school resource officers in the 13 counties which make up Region E across the Bootheel.

Sisk is trying to get to know his counterparts in Region E which includes the counties of New Madrid, Mississippi, Scott, Stoddard, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, Iron, Wayne, Ripley and Butler. He wants their ideas on what legislation may be needed at the state level that would be beneficial in doing their job along with hearing their concerns.

He also wants to inform school districts and police departments about the importance of having an SRO and help them find ways to fund the position for their schools.

At his first meeting with the other Missouri School Resource Officers representatives, he said funding sources were a topic.

“We talked about the grants that the state may be trying to get a hold of to fund SROs in school districts, particularly high poverty school districts. Region E is one of the poorest in the state so that is big news for our area,” Sisk said.

Other alternatives include a district opting to split the cost of the program with a local police department. At Portageville, citizens approved a law enforcement sales tax to help fund his position in the school district, Sisk said.

“I want to have at least have one SRO in every school,” he said. “I know that is a far stretch of a goal when funds are stretched right now. But any type of funding that is available for schools, I get an email about it.”

Sisk emphasized the important role filled by school resource officers.

“The thing with SROs, we are not disciplinarians. We are educators, mentors, law enforcement officers,” Sisk said. “I will spend 90 percent more time trying to keep a kid out of trouble then to put a kid in trouble. That is our job and our goal as an SRO. If we do this job to be disciplinarians and act as assistant principals, we are in it for the wrong reasons.That is not why we are here.”

In addition to being a certified law enforcement officer, Missouri requires SROs to take an additional 40 hour training that specializes in school safety, juvenile law and youth mental health. all of which has to be completed within the first year of being selected as an SRO.

The Missouri School Resource Officers Association offers inexpensive training to meet the requirement, according to Sisk. Also available is advanced training along with a program to certify participants in crime prevention through environmental design.

The training, he explained, emphasizes the protocols required by the job and the state statutes dealing with juvenile law and school safety. For example, he said there are dos and don’ts which must be complied with should a student bring a gun to school.

However, Sisk again emphasized that school resource officers are not disciplinarians. He cited the SRO triad of counselor, teacher, law enforcement officer.

“I have had several kids just knock on my office door and want to come in here and talk. It may be about anything - maybe they are being bullied or they are feeling unsafe out of school,” Sisk said. “When they might not see another police officer, they will always see me. That is the most important part of this job is building those relationships with our youth.”

As an educator, Sisk has completed his DARE certification. This year he will not only bring the anti-drug, anti-bullying message to fifth graders but students from kindergarten through high school.

Working with the other Portageville Police officers and local citizens, Sisk is organizing “Shop with a Cop,” which provides an opportunity for low-income children to purchase gifts at Christmas.

“An SRO, if utilized properly, can do a lot for the community,” Sisk said. “I would like for the community to get to know them, support them, find out what is going on and trust them.”

“When parents drop off their children in the morning at school, they are dropping off their most precious gift they can possibly have,” Sisk continued. “They want their kids to come back as safe as when they dropped them off. That is what an SRO is here for.”

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Police Sgt./ SRO Corey Sisk encourages all SROs in Region E to contact him. Also school officials who would like to start a school resource officer program in their district can contact him for more information. Sisk can be reached by email at csisk@portageville.k12.mo.us or contacted through the Portageville Police Department by calling 573-379-5500.