Members of the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office and Logan-Hocking School District have met on several occasions recently, following a mass school shooting in Florida and numerous threats to schools in the area.
Out of those meetings came the decision to place a School Resource Officer within the elementary schools in the district.
The goal was to provide the safest possible environment for both students and teachers within Hocking County.
On Feb. 27, Sheriff North met with the Hocking County Board of Commissioners to request the SRO program, providing a deputy to serve that function within the three elementary schools in Hocking County.
The County Commissioners voted unanimously to support the program, authorizing the sheriff's office to work with the Logan-Hocking Board of Education to implement it.
Sheriff North met with the BOE and Superintendent Monte Bainter, who offered to cover 75 percent of the operating cost, and requested the SRO be put in place as soon as possible.
Monday Deputy Ross Cowgill, a 10 year veteran of the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office, will begin a new chapter in his career as the Sheriff’s Office’s School Resource Officer.
Cowgill will be responsible for providing law enforcement services and crime prevention to the three Logan-Hocking Elementary Schools.
Not only will Cowgill help promote a safer environment within the schools, but he will also act as a liaison between the students, school staff and law enforcement and help foster positive relationships between them.
The district also will be hosting a Community Forum for school safety at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Logan-Hocking Middle School Theater.
