Pekin makes its school resource officer full-time

PACKWOOD — Pekin Community School District will have a full-time school resource officer this upcoming school year.

Pekin’s school board and the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors each approved making Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Angie Pohren a full-time school resource officer. The school and the county began this collaboration last school year when they approved Pohren as Pekin’s part-time school resource officer, but her time at the school was limited to 15 hours per week, and depended on the other needs of the sheriff’s office.

Pekin Superintendent Derek Philips said the school’s experiment with an officer in the building went so well that the school board decided to have Pohren in the building every day. Pohren will be at the school every day Pekin is in session, and during breaks she will perform her normal patrol duties with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Pohren performed numerous functions as a school resource officer such as guest speaking, anti-drug presentations, supervise the hallways and cafeteria, help with disciplinary investigations, and answer students’ questions.

“If they ever had a question or concern, I was there to talk to them,” Pohren said. “At first, I got questions from the younger kids asking me why I was there, but the longer I was at the school, the more students got used to me. I would explain to them that I’m there for them, and it’s not because somebody is in trouble.”

Philips said one of the main reasons he and other school staff see a need for a school resource officer is that Pekin is “in the middle of nowhere,” and thus it would take longer for law enforcement to respond to an emergency at the school.

“When [Deputy Pohren] was here, there was a different feel in the building,” Philips said. “It was a positive feeling, and we all felt safer, staff and students alike.”

Philips said the school is reimbursing Jefferson County for the cost of having a full-time school resource officer, and the Jefferson County’s Sheriff’s Office is receiving a grant from the state so it won’t be down an officer. Philips said the school was able to find the money in its budget to make Pohren full-time since it is not filling its dean of students position.

Pekin’s former dean of students stepped down at the end of last school year to take a job in Fairfield, and the board opted to do away with the position. Philips said the position of dean of students was created back when Pekin was sharing a superintendent with Sigourney, but since that is no longer the case, and because Pekin has full-time elementary and middle/high school principals, the board felt it had enough staff to cover all its administrative duties.

Philips said he’s looking forward to having Pohren at the school on a daily basis, and to see her continue to build relationships with the students.

“She is not one who tries to come in and lead by intimidation,” Philips said. “She gets respectful because she is respectful back to the students, from the kindergartners to the high schoolers. She did a great job last year, and we’re looking forward to having her full-time and being part of the Pekin staff in a sense.”

Pohren grew up in Fairfield and graduated from Fairfield High School in 2000. She has worked for the county since 2006 when she started as a jailer, and then became a sheriff’s deputy in 2008.

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