[0:01] This is the Farmington feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington. Hi [0:05] and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, [0:09] and I'm hungry for another episode of The Feed. We have two new guests with [0:12] us today. We'll be talking about our school resource officer, Officer Pete, [0:17] and Farmington Area School District Superintendent Jason Berg. Welcome, guys. Hi. Thanks for having [0:22] us. Yeah. Hello. You're both new to this feed, and that's exciting. I love having new guests on. So, [0:27] my first question is when did this all start? When did they start having a school resource [0:31] officer in the schools? Uh, it's been quite a long time. I mean, I it at least probably 10 years. Um, [0:38] I think back to my time as a a teacher and then as an administrator at one point in time, [0:44] we had an SRO in the high school and both of the middle schools and then, [0:48] uh, through budget reductions, we reduced to one in the middle school, one in the high school, [0:52] and now we just kind of have Pete who is our SRO for the entire district. He's at the high school, [0:58] but he does an awesome job of getting to all our buildings. Uh we we got to spend some time [1:02] at National Night Out, and it was pretty amazing at how many of the elementary kids recognized him [1:08] as SRO and things like that, which just is a great indication of how active he is in our buildings. [1:12] Oh, for sure. I mean, I remember back in school, we didn't have SRO. We we just had like a security [1:17] guard watching the parking lots and hallways and stuff, and now this is like legit. I know that you [1:23] are mainly out of the high school, he just said, but um what do you say is the time amount that you [1:28] spend at each building if you if you could take a guess? I wish I could give you a minute by minute, [1:34] but I can't. It all depends on, you know, what the day is. There there are weeks where all I get to [1:40] do is write reports and talk to kids as much as I can. And there are weeks where maybe it's a little [1:46] slower and I have the ability and the I just have time to stop by buildings and just spend time with [1:52] kids. I'm obviously at the high school every day. I really try to stop by each middle school once a [1:58] day. Um that doesn't always happen just with other stuff going on. Um and then I try to get to each [2:02] elementary school once a week. Okay. That's a lot. And then you probably have some duties [2:06] back at the PD as well. I do. I I there are some times when I get assigned uh juvenile cases that [2:12] might not specifically have anything to do with the school, but because of the situation that [2:15] I'm in or the the position I'm in that just makes sense for me to investigate. So Oh, for sure. So, [2:21] how long have you been in this role? So, I've been a police officer for uh January will be [2:26] 20 years. Been with Farmington for 15 and this is my I'm starting my third school year as a school [2:31] resource officer. All right. So, we need to do one of those boards for you. How many years you [2:35] been in SRO and what's your favorite subject in school? Bring it on. Let's do it. And so Jason, [2:41] how long have you been in your role? Uh, in my current role, so I'm entering kind of my [2:47] sixth and a half year as superintendent. So I was an interim in started April, I think, [2:52] of 2020 and then was hired as full-time that that spring and started the next fall and stuff. So, [2:58] but I've been with the district most of my adult career. started teaching here in 1993 94 in the [3:04] old high school when we had about 160 students. Taught math was gone for a little bit but then uh [3:09] came back and taught math again at the high school and worked up as assistant principal principal, [3:16] assistant superintendent this job. So Okay. Awesome. So can you um describe a little bit [3:21] about how you guys have worked together in the past and then maybe talk about how the future's [3:25] going to look? Well, I I mean I think you know my as role in superintendent it changes a little bit. [3:30] I don't have the day-to-day actions with S or Pete that I had when I was the principal, but you know, [3:35] there's things that come Pete's way, especially from a lot of social media stuff. Um Oh, yeah. [3:40] I didn't even think about that. A lot of things that kids post that they think might be a joke, [3:45] but we have to take serious and and Pete really acts as that liaison for us to decide, you know, [3:52] what do we have to do with this? Um what does the investigation look like? Um where are we [3:57] with things? And then you know there's been times where he's been the liaison between our department [4:01] and the FBI and other things. So right now for me and Pete it's a lot of that high level stuff. [4:07] Andrew Van Dorn just recently became captain and when I started he was the SRO and a lot more daily [4:12] interactions. when I was the principal in terms of stuff and and again I think Pete nailed it [4:16] on the head right a lot of it is interaction with kids spending time in the hallway in the lunchroom [4:21] and really working on kind of you know building relationships so that when he does see kids out [4:27] and about he can leverage that or sees families or has to go into situations that um aren't the [4:32] greatest that they recognize somebody in a uniform um and can bring some calm to that. Oh yeah. So, [4:39] what has been the most rewarding part of this position so far? You know, so I've been in here [4:45] for almost 20 years as a police officer, and I think if you would have asked me when I was in [4:49] my early to mid20s about doing the SRO thing, I probably would have said no at this point in my [4:55] life. I've got three kids of my own, pretty pretty involved in their, you know, education and sports [5:00] and coaching and stuff like that. Honestly, I I'm uh I'm a people person. Yeah. Um, yes, [5:07] I I do take an enforcement action or enforcement role sometimes, but I honestly think most of this [5:12] is is just building relationships with the kids, with the staff, with the parents. I mean, you deal [5:20] with small business owners, you deal with just a large group of people from the community. And I [5:26] think it's a huge position to just go out there and show the community that we are involved in [5:30] the day-to-day operations at the school district. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I mean you're just not just at [5:35] the schools like you're going to be at some of the sporting events too. And it's not just you. I mean [5:39] other officers as well. Like I work I work all the football games, the home games simply because not [5:43] just because it's football. Uh but just because of the sheer numbers of people that we have at [5:48] these events. I mean I've worked I've worked hockey games. I've worked basketball games. No, [5:52] I enjoy all of it. I think it's a really important position within the police department. So what do [5:57] you think is a the number one concern you guys have when school starts? What are what are you [6:01] what are you thinking about? Well, I think for me, we we just got off the summer, so people, [6:07] you know, aren't used to seeing buses. They're not they see kids walking, but not kind of, [6:12] you know, in more organized fashion. So, my my mindset always goes to bus safety, [6:17] stop arm type things. Um, it goes to I run in the early in the morning and, you know, [6:24] people don't always stop at stop signs and things like that. And I think my mind goes to our kids [6:30] that are walking and things like that just of of drivers being more attentive and more aware that [6:35] there's going to be more kids out and about at different times and really being cautious, [6:43] not just around the school zones, but just kind of in general. I mean, we have at the high school, [6:47] we'll have more kids that are getting their driver's license as the year goes on, right? So, [6:51] you have a lot of kids that Yep. are out there and things like that. So that's where my safety goes [6:56] to is really kind of the around the transportation sort of things. I mean, we just spent time today [7:02] with Pete talking about some of our other safety plans and things like that that we put in place [7:07] um that we continue to work on, too. But really kind of that that piece of kids getting to school, [7:12] being dropped off at school. Our parking lots can be dangerous places sometimes and unfortunately [7:17] it's not the kids, it's the adults driving in those parking lots. So, beginning the school year, [7:23] my mind really goes to that. Oh, yeah. I get that. Um, I had a call last year um that my kids bus [7:29] was hit by a parent driver cuz my kids go to one stop and they transfer buses and go to another and [7:36] they the bus hit so then they had to stop and they all had to get off because it wasn't you couldn't [7:40] drive the bus anymore and it's a big deal. Yeah. So, they were late to school and was like, "Oh, [7:45] okay. Well, as long as everybody's nobody's hurt." Just kind of to piggyback off of Jason, [7:49] he he brought up anytime you throw, you know, 2,000 vehicles in a parking lot with a bunch of [7:54] inexperienced drivers, you're going to have a couple issues. And I think most of the issues [7:58] we have are for the most part pretty minor, but I think I I agree with Jason and what he said [8:04] about the parents. Everybody is in a rush. And we get that. But you need to be uh aware of your [8:10] surroundings and you need to take a breath and you just when you get into a school parking lot [8:14] you need to just slow down and relax a little bit and everybody will hopefully at one point get to [8:20] where they need to go for sure. Um so what about the after school logistics like extracurricular [8:25] activities and does Farmington bus to sports or No. Uh yep we do bus to sports and stuff. So I [8:31] mean that's just another layer ensuring that our kids get to the um right locations and things like [8:36] that. you know, we we typically don't have too many issues around that. We're pretty fortunate [8:41] when you talk about extracurricular activities and and Pete talked about um you know, being at some [8:46] different sport events. Our sporting events have been pretty good um in terms of for the most part [8:51] fan behavior and things like that and you know, we've been fortunate where we haven't seen any, [8:56] you know, people outside our community come in and cause some issues. But I think when we talk about [9:01] our safety plans and things like that, that's always kind of on the forefront cuz people in our [9:06] community and people that go to our buildings kind of understand our expectations, but you always get [9:12] some people potentially from outside that that it doesn't hold true for. Yeah. Like the fans from [9:16] the other team sometimes. Fans from the other team or sometimes you just have people that are looking [9:20] for big crowds and you know want to create some havoc. Yeah. And so let's take a football game [9:27] for example. like what time are you getting there and what are you what are you what are you doing? [9:30] Football game starts 7 7 usually. So I so I worked my schedule is uh 7:30 in the morning till 3:30 in [9:37] the afternoon on a Friday. Football I I'm usually there from 7:30 in the morning until 10:00 10:30 [9:43] at night when the game is over. Yeah. When the game's over and I've got stuff to do that I you [9:46] know stuff I can accomplish in between the the end of school and the start of the football game. And [9:50] honestly, like Jason said, we were there have been a couple minor, you know, drinking issues or, you [9:57] know, for the most part pretty run-of-the-mill kid stuff, but for the most part, football games have [10:02] been pretty pretty well behaved. Um, what I'll end up doing is I'll send out a message saying, [10:08] "Hey, I need a couple of officers that, you know, want to come in for a couple hours and work the [10:12] football games." And honestly, I really enjoy working them. A I'm a fan of football, but B, [10:17] it's just you get, like I said, you get to see everybody because that's like the highest attended [10:21] sport, right? Yeah. I mean, it's those have become community events, right? You have the football [10:25] game, you have your halftime marching band, right? You know, it's it's it they've really kind of high [10:31] school has kind of turned into like college events when it comes to football. So, you you see the [10:36] big-time college, you know, your students dressing up, changing out what the themes are for the [10:40] games and things like that. Um Oh, yeah. I've seen that. That's that that's that's kind of fun. Yeah, [10:45] they really spend a lot of time doing that and there's only four of them, right? So, you know, [10:49] people get really kind of geeked up for those those four events. It's usually in the fall when, [10:54] you know, people are excited to be back to the summer and stuff like that and, you know, families [10:58] are bringing their kids and things. I mean, you're talking 5, 6, 7, 8,000 people at an event. So, [11:04] they're big. And I'm sure they do like a youth night to coincide with the football association, [11:09] right? They have some different nights and things like that, but even when they don't have the [11:12] nights, they're just highly attended. They are. Okay, cool. Uh, and to follow up about the buses, [11:16] um, Marschall Line is the company that, you know, gets your students to and from school. [11:21] I know they've implemented some various safety measures on the buses when it comes to the to [11:25] safety. Do you know any of the recent changes they have made or how do they get the message [11:28] out to parents about them? Well, I mean, they do their bus safety. They do some things like that. [11:33] One of the things that we partnered with um, with Marshall Lines is to put cameras in each [11:37] of the bus. So that's probably the biggest safety feature that's been integrated in the last couple [11:43] of years, right? You know, sometimes kids forget that how we expect you to behave in a classroom [11:48] is how we expect you to behave on a bus. Oh yeah, those bus drivers. Yeah. Bless those bus drivers [11:53] cuz they kind of deal with some things. But the the videos allowed us to make the investigations [11:58] a lot easier. It's not the, you know, they said, they said, it's now we can go back and take a look [12:03] at stuff. We have audio, things like that. So we can do a much better job of of ensuring that our [12:09] kids are living up to our behavior standards not only in the classroom but also on the bus. [12:14] Yeah. And then there there are cameras outside to the bus as well. There are cameras outside which [12:19] kind of brings me to my next point of like stop arm violations and and the general public maybe [12:24] not paying as much attention as they need to be and passing through one of those stop arms. It [12:29] it happens more than I care to admit. Um and a lot of people might not think it's a it's a big deal, [12:34] but it is. It is. I mean, it it's the difference between hurting a little one and not hurting a [12:39] little one, for sure. So, we we tend to take those pretty seriously at the police department [12:44] and it it's a it can come with a hefty fine. So, we're just encouraging everybody to stay off their [12:50] phones um and everything like that and just make sure they're aware of when they're around [12:54] the school bus. The red lights are on, they're supposed to stop. When the yellow, they're about [12:58] to stop. Correct. Correct. Okay. Yeah. And I Well, sorry to interrupt, but I just I mean, you're [13:02] going to save 30 seconds, right? you're going to save a minute. It's It's not worth the potential [13:07] risk that our kids are put at, especially our little kids, right? They work really hard and [13:11] the bus drivers work really hard to kind of train them about when they, you know, when they cross [13:16] and stuff like that. And those kids once they're given the signal to cross, they're they're kind of [13:20] feeling like they're protected and they're not kind of have their head on a swivel like they [13:26] might on a a different intersection or something like that. And if somebody decides they're going [13:29] to go around that, our kids aren't expecting that. That's probably the most dangerous part of [13:34] it. Yeah. I mean, they go over that in the safety camp that uh Parks and Rec does over the summer [13:38] and talk and the bus actually comes here and they do a whole thing and yeah, it's like if the bus [13:43] driver tells you you're good to go, you feel like you should just be able to go. Anything else that [13:47] we didn't hit on? Back to school safety. I think it's patience, right? If you put one word on it, [13:52] it's just patience. Be patient when you're driving around. Be patient with our our kids. Be patient [13:58] in parking lots and things like that. you know, even though it's it's might be a routine that [14:03] people have been used to in the past, when we haven't done it for 3 months, all those routines [14:08] have to kind of be, you know, reintegrated back into their mindset. So, just again, I mean, we're [14:14] not, you might lose 2 minutes, 3 minutes getting somewhere, but it to put anybody at risk just to [14:20] to save a little bit of time just isn't worth it. For sure. Reminder, school starts when? Uh, [14:26] starts Tuesday after Labor Day. Yeah. So, this is September 2nd and just a reminder, drivers [14:31] should be more cautious and slower and patient and be on the lookout for kids walking, biking, [14:36] or just getting in on and off the bus. Thank you so much for coming in today to talk about this. [14:41] So, school starts the second, but when's our first football game? That's the important part, [14:45] right? Well, for some people it is. So, yeah, August 28th, Thursday night, and that's a home [14:49] game. Home game. I think I believe it's against East View. Don't quote me on that, but it's 7 [14:53] o'clock. All right. Well, go Tigers, right? Go Tigers. All right. Thank you. You're welcome.