It was plain to see more of a police presence was needed at the Jamestown Public Schools’ technology academy after an April incident in which two 16-year-old students attacked their teachers. One of the teachers was punched in the face, causing cuts to his face and mouth, and was also hit in the head with a metal clock removed from a wall. The second teacher was also hit several times in the face. One student was charged at the scene while the other fled the building before police could arrive. He was caught the next day.

As Joe DiMaio, Jamestown Public Schools board president said, the tech academy has had few incidents, but there was obviously work to be done to make sure the building was safe for teachers and students. We’re glad to see, then, that the Jamestown Public Schools District has added a school resource officer for the 2015-16 school year. The Jamestown City Council recently approved hiring two school resource officers, one as a replacement for the district’s existing officer, as well as the officer for the tech academy.

One reason the additional resource is needed is the tech academy’s place within the district’s educational infrastructure. It hosts the Personalized Learning Program, a place for students who are considered in their current education setting. Placement in the program can happen if a student is falling significantly behind in school, has significant attendance issues, is entering from an alternative education setting, has two or more suspensions or one long-term suspension or has an ongoing inability to follow school rules.

The United Way of Southern Chautauqua County’s 2013 Community Status Report states more than half of county high school students had tried marijuana by the time they were in 12th grade. Local use rates from CASAC’s Youth Drug Survey for lifetime and past-30-day use locally are higher in eighth, 10th and 12th grades than national rates. Pharmaceuticals are also being misused at an increasing rate locally and nationally, with a past-30-day use ranging from 4.2 percent in seventh grade to 13 percent in 11th grade. Combine those statistics with bullying and other peer-related issues in all of our schools and it’s easy to see how having a police officer available can provide a bit more comfort to parents before they drop their children off at school every day.

While drug use, bullying and other behavior issues are issues in all schools, the Jamestown district has seen issues mostly at the high school and the tech academy. While we hope having an officer stationed at the tech academy prevents incidents like April’s assault, we also note the good school resource officers can do. They can become instructors, mentors, counselors and role models for youth who can certainly use the guidance.

The days when the worst thing a teacher dealt with was students smoking cigarettes in the bathroom or kids running in the hall are long gone. We can’t afford to have school resource officers in every school, but having them in the tech academy and high school are a good start.