It’s the first day of classes Thursday for the Salem Grade and High School Districts.
At Hawthorn Grade and Franklin Park Middle School, there is a new school resource officer as Mason McMeen replaces Ryan Meador in the position. Meador asked to be reassigned to patrol duties. McMeen joined the Salem Police Department in November 2020 and was encouraged to take on the SRO role.
“Today’s world seems like a lot of juveniles don’t approach officers and we are put not necessarily as the good guys. So I want to change that mindset and be open and relatable.”
McMeen has spent part of his summer at SRO training school.
“Teach us juvenile law. You learn the differences with what you can do with juveniles and different protocols. We did a lot of active shooter response drills and crisis response. We will be able to teach kids about vaping, tobacco use and drugs and also have different trainings we are going to so we can teach the teachers and admin staff on active shooter and crisis response as well. So they understand what can be done.”
A new program is being added to the ALICE training this year. AVERT is another active shooting response program that will include training for faculty on how to stop bleeding in the event of an incident in the schools.
While not the truancy officer, McMeen says he will be able to provide welfare checks and work with students and family to get students to school. He’ll also spend time at some extra-curricular and sporting events. McMeen also spent some time in the dunking booth for a back to school program for students held at Helia Health Care.
McMeen has offices at both Hawthorn and Franklin Park. Each of the offices has the ability to monitor security cameras throughout both buildings. McMeen will also coordinate some activities with Salem Community High School SRO Craig Vieira who is returning for another year.
