Partnership to provide for school resource officer at Glencoe Elementary School

Donna Thornton and J.J. Hicks, The Gadsden Times
·2 min read
Tameron Honda president/general manager Danny Braden, in partnership with the Etowah County Sheriff's Department and the Etowah County Board of Education, will fund a school resource officer at Glencoe Elementary School, according to a press release
Tameron Honda president/general manager Danny Braden, in partnership with the Etowah County Sheriff's Department and the Etowah County Board of Education, will fund a school resource officer at Glencoe Elementary School, according to a press release

Glencoe Elementary School now will have a permanent school resource officer, according to a press release from Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton.

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According to the release, the school's new SRO will be funded through a partnership with the Etowah County Sheriff's Office, the Etowah County Board of Education and Danny Braden, general owner/president of Tameron Honda.

The position has guaranteed funding for five years, the release said. The City of Glencoe and the Glencoe Police Department also were cited as being big contributors to devising the plan and helping make it work.

SROs provide a campus with a presence meant to identify and deter trespassers and be on the lookout for any criminal or suspicious behavior.

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The duty of an SRO has become much more important and necessary in a day and age where tragedies such as the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, where 19 children and two teachers fatally were shot, sadly are becoming more commonplace.

The presence of a school resource officer is a step in the direction of helping make sure all students, visitors to campus and school employees are as safe as possible.

"I am honored and excited to provide a school resource officer to Glencoe Elementary School," Horton said in the release. "Any time we can add DARE-certified deputies to any of our county schools, we are pleased — it gives us that much more opportunity to make a positive impression and/or be a resource to a child in need and keep our children safe and ease the minds of their parents while their children attend school.

"We are all in this together," Horton added. "This is in addition to 14 deputies that currently are funded tri-part by the sheriff, County Commission and Board of Education. This is a great example of community partners investing in the community."

Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com. Contact Gadsden Times reporter J.J. Hicks at jhicks1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Horton, Tameron Honda, Etowah Co. BoE provide SRO to Glencoe Elementary