Officers from ten local departments – including Steve Hearon from Wrentham – took part in a two-day seminar for School Resource Officers sponsored by Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey. The course instructor, Michelle Palladini, is a detective with the Norfolk Police Department assigned as school resource officer at King Philip Middle School. She presents across the region to other officers, parents and teachers. The program name is the acronym for Leadership, Empowerment, Awareness, and Protection.
“Modern SRO’s are not just stationed at our schools like detail officers at a sporting event, they are – ideally – integrated into the life of the school and the lives of the students,” District Attorney Morrissey said, during a break at the January 30 and 31st training held at the Foxborough Public Safety Building.
“The L.E.A.P training sessions focus on strategies and scenarios where the officers become agents of skill building and positive learning for the students,” District Attorney Morrissey said. “It integrates research on social-emotional learning into the work that officers do in our schools. Officer Palladino started by looking at what research shows makes kids happy, healthy, safe and resilient,” and then looked at how SROs can help build those skills.
“Each school has its own culture and climate. Healthy, positive schools are safer schools,” Morrissey said. “The success of our school resource officers depends both on the caliber of the person in that role and in the quality of training and support they get. The L.E.A.P Model for Student Success was a natural resource to share with the student resource officers in Norfolk County.”
Morrissey thanked Foxborough Police Chief William Baker for donating the use of the training space at his police station.