SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Several months after the program was started we’re hearing from the Springdale School District's new certified school safety officers. The district added the officers this fall in an effort to have an armed person on all of its campuses.
“We're here for one reason, and that's to protect these kids,” said CSSO John Farrell.
The Springdale School District officially launched its certified school safety officer, or CSSO program, in September. The armed officers are stationed at every elementary school.
“I'm one of the first faces they see in the morning. And you develop these relationships with the kids and they, they look up to you, you greet them. They're interested, they want to know all about it. And the parents know that we're here to protect the kids,” he said.
John Farrell came out of retirement to take on the job as a CSSO.
A former firefighter and medic this grandfather says he has what it takes to answer the call.
“I've gone through extensive training, and I'm tickled to death that I'm able to provide a service that I think's beneficial to the kids of school districts of Springdale,” he said.
In total, 19 CSSOs are stationed at elementary schools, and the pre-k
Director of student services, Damon Donnell says the officers received their training from a private company and are cross-training with the Springdale Police Department regularly.
“I believe that having CSSOs and SROs in every building, will make us much safer. That allows us to have a much shorter reaction time to any event that might take place in a building,” said Damon Donnell.
School resource officers from the Springdale Police Department provide security at the middle, junior and high schools. The district plans to continue training and upgrading equipment as needed.
“These people we're here with for one reason, because they are really concerned, and it only took one last event to really get this ball rolling. And people are tired of this and we're going to put a stop to it. And here in Springdale, we're going to do our best to make sure it never happens,” said Farrell.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.