If you’re curious about witnessing what celebrity status looks like, simply follow a uniformed Boerne ISD School Resource Officer into a crowded school cafeteria and prepare to hear shouts of excitement that rival that of a Taylor Swift concert.
Officer Ryan Cook, SRO at Cibolo Creek Elementary, knows that walking into third-grade lunch means a lot of high-fives and hugs with students. For Cook, she knows that relationship building is key to her success working at the school. What makes giving out a high-five to a student just as important as writing a police report? “To bridge the gap between the uniform and the student because a lot of times we look intimidating,” said Cook.
Elementary kids may have little to no experience with law enforcement, said Cook, and one of her roles is to lay the groundwork for positive relationships between police officers and students. “It helps them get comfortable (with) me. If they have a problem, I try really hard to make sure that they know they can run to me and not away from me, not to be afraid of me, and I try to convey that to the parents also,” said Cook.
As students transition to middle and high school, and problems naturally increase in complexity, the role of the SRO becomes more layered. Officer Roger Fuentes, SRO at Boerne High School, knows that he also serves as an “unofficial counselor” for students. “Kids here are teenagers going through a rough time in their life and sometimes they just need people to talk to,” said Fuentes. “I’m just that outer third-party person that they can talk to and feel comfortable with. I can give them advice and help them get through it and just listen to them.”
When their SRO has to be off campus, the students notice. “Whenever we had a different police officer it was never the same. Because we didn’t really know them. We have a relationship with Fuentes,” said 11th BHS grade student Destiny Galloway. For Fuentes, he knows that building trust with students is a key component to changing behavior. “It changes their demeanor so they come to school not wanting to be so rebellious or fight. People here truly want to help them. They actually want to come to school and learn,” he said.
Deputy Jared Moore with the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office and SRO at Voss Middle School knows the middle school years are a critical time in building trust through positive interactions with students. “I know day to day in talking with kids (that) you get to know them, they get to know you. They know that on your off time you have a family, you have kids, you have pets and you have a social life. You’re a real person,” said Moore.
Just like Cook, Moore finds himself elevated to celebrity status when walking into the school cafeteria. He challenges students with a “question of the day” during lunch periods, rewarding correct answers with high-fives and fist bumps. “They come up to me wanting just to give a high-five,” said Moore. In the delicate art of relationship building with middle school students, it’s the little details that can make a big difference in making a student feel seen and heard. “It’s knowing those personal things about the kids, their birthday, remembering if they are hockey players or play archery or into a club or sport,” said Moore.
For these officers, who interact with hundreds of students every day, good communication skills and patience are essential. “SROs are required to interact with young students, parents, and staff and need to know how to adapt or alter their communication styles based on who their audience is, so communication skills are very important,” said Boerne Chief of Police Steve Perez.
Some days the officers sit with a crying student, upset about a bad test grade, on others they serve as attentive listeners for a student going through a break-up, and sometimes it’s the comforting task of reading a book to a captivated class of kindergarten students. When the final high-five is given at the end of the day, these real-life campus “celebrities” know that the spotlight is not on them, but on their connection with the students.
Sources: Boerne ISD Facebook
Blog contributions: Melanie K. Bostic, BISD Communications
