By Patty Shultz, Uniontown Herald Standard (Pennsylvania)
CONNELLSVILLE, Penn. - The bell rings and students filter into the Connellsville Area High School hallways in search of their next class.
The presence of a uniformed city police Cpl. Ken Jaynes doesn’t warrant too much attention as the students and staff are becoming accustomed to seeing him in the building.
It’s been more than 25 years since Jaynes has made a daily trek to the high school. At that time, the 1979 Connellsville high school graduate was more likely to be just a face in crowd. Today, he’s keeping watch over those faces.
In the past, the presence of a police officer in the school was an indication that a problem had arisen, said principal Bob McLuckey, but today, it has become commonplace.
“In addition to education, security is a high priority,” he said. “I have 1,400 kids come into this building each day and I want to make sure each and every one of them returns home safely.”
Although the district has security personnel, Jaynes is the first active-duty officer to be at the high school and the district’s other school facilities on a regular basis.
Recently, Jaynes was named as the school district resource officer after the city secured a $125,000 three-year grant through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in Schools Program that places an experienced officer in local schools and allows the municipality to hire an entry-level patrolman at no-cost to the city.
City police Chief Stephen Cooper, along with McLuckey, said Jaynes was a “good fit” for the position with his tenure with the city police department, his past affiliations with the district as the overseer of the School Patrol program, elementary school fingerprinting program, a Little League baseball and basketball coach and as a parent with three children in the school district.
“We want to build a rapport with the students, and Ken will be able to accomplish that task,” said Cooper. “We want the students to know that he is here to help them.
“We want them to be able to come to him if they have a problem.”
McLuckey said that in addition to his presence in the school, Jaynes would also implement drug awareness, traffic, bike and bus safety programs, in addition to providing any needed law-related services.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than $715 million has been awarded to 6,000 schools for school-related programs to improve student and school safety and for the prevention of school violence.
Jaynes, meanwhile, said he has been making himself familiar with the school facilities, staff and students.
“It’s been very positive,” he said.
His goal is to have a mentoring role with the students at all age levels.
“I would rather steer them away from the wrong path now than to have to arrest them somewhere down the line,” he said.
Cooper said the program is also beneficial to the police department with an additional officer to be hired in the near future.
“It’s a win-win situation for the school and for the city,” he said. “During the summer months, (Cpl. Jaynes) will be on our roster, plus we will have the additional officer.
“I see this as a very positive program.”