School resource officers, from left, Joel Popenfoose, Brandon Zartman and Roy Navarro talk to the Warsaw School Board Tuesday. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union.

By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WARSAW — School resource officers provided a look at what they do and how the school year was going to the Warsaw School Board Tuesday, April 9.

Warsaw Community Schools partnered with the Warsaw Police Department to maintain four SROs: Roy Navarro, Brandon Zartman, Lewis Fuller and Phil Reed.

This year, WCS added an additional partnership with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office to add Joel Popenfoose to the WCS SRO team. Having SROs on-site offers proximity during emergencies, and they are crucial safe-zones for students. The SROs help to deter misconduct within the school buildings and complete a safety audit each year to ensure that WCS buildings, parking lots and grounds are safe and secure at all times, according to a news release provided by WCS after the meeting.

The SROs’ primary duty is to ensure that WCS is safe and secure, and they supplement their duties by conducting roving patrols and training other school personnel. The SROs undergo yearly week-long SRO safety training, which includes training on threat assessment teams and tools, social media investigations, school law updates, trauma-informed care and cultural competency, etc., according to the release.

Tuesday, Navarro said so far, it’s been a good year.

“The numbers have been fairly good,” he said, noting the SROs have been dealing a lot with mentoring and counseling students this year.

Zartman said the SROs went to every school in the district recently and examined the schools inside and out to see what could improved or fixed, like whether cameras can be “tweaked.” It is something they do every year.

Zartman said the school year at the high school was the busiest by far being a SRO. The first month, there were more fights than the school had in the previous two years combined. There were also a week before spring break where there were several arrests dealing with marijuana. He said there were seven arrests in a five- or six-day stretch.

“We had not had that for most of the year. Every now and then, we’ll have one here and there,” he said.

Zartman said, hopefully, they can finish the school year out strong.

This year, Navarros said it is planned to go back to one Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduation May 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Tiger Den.

Board member Tom Westerhof asked if the SROs were seeing more issues post-COVID.

Navarro said the dynamics have changed a lot in the past couple years. Some of the decision-making processes some of the students have is poor, so they do try to help. There are a lot of resources available for students to get help.

Popenfoose said he’s been able to create a lot of relationships with the kids and is there as a mentor for students. He draws on his experience as a police officer for advice for students. Every day, he said he’s trying to see different classes and grades.
He said he works bus duty and parent drop-off so he’s one of the first faces students see in the morning. He then does a door check to make sure all the doors are locked.

Board Secretary Elle Turley said there seems to be a lot of trust between students and SROs. Westerhof said the SROs were changing students’ lives forever. Board Vice President Randy Polston thanked all the SROs for what they did.

Later in the meeting, the board heard from autism resource specialist Maria Demopoulis.

She said she helps and consults with staff who have students between ages 3 and 22.

At the preschool level, there are 21 students receiving services on the autism spectrum. The students are a mix from Head Start, Presby Preschool, Good Beginnings Preschool and homeschooled children.

There are 67 students at the elementary level on the autism spectrum receiving services. At the secondary level, there are 54 students on the autism spectrum receiving services.

In total, there are 142 students on the autism spectrum receiving services. The total amount of students receiving special education services at WCS is 1,407, which includes those who are autistic.

Demopoulis said when she started 16 years ago, there were about 70 students with autism that were receiving services. She said from when she started, they have better tools for evaluating if the student is autistic.

To evaluate if a student has autism, there is a team that does an evaluation. A school psychologist, special education teacher, speech/language therapist and occupational therapist are required members of the evaluation team. Additional members of the team could be an autism resource specialist, mental health therapist or physical therapist.

Evaluations consist of in-person assessments with the student, an in-person interview with parents, a checklist done by parents and staff, observations by all team members, writing evaluation reports, reviewing medical reports/testing and a case conference. Demopoulis said each team member spends approximately seven to 10 hours per evaluation with a total of 35 to 50 hours per evaluation that is done.

Demopoulis said there are times when the school corporation does step back to see if the diagnosis could be something else, as they have to be confident in the diagnosis.