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ELKINS -- Prevention Resource Officers are working to make a difference in local schools, thanks to a partnership between the Randolph County Sheriff's Office and Randolph County Schools.
The program has grown since its inception in the fall of 2021, when two officers were hired to be placed at Tygarts Valley High School and Elkins Middle School. The program has offered several special events and provided multiple learning opportunities for students during the past three years.
A third PRO officer was hired during the past year. Deputy Ethan Carr was stationed at Elkins High School, where last week he oversaw a special class session for members of the EHS boys basketball team.
"We are always doing educational sessions with students, and last week Deputy Carr met with the basketball team at Elkins High," Sheriff Rob Elbon told The Inter-Mountain. "Part of their duty is to teach classes at the schools and do some different things. At last week's class he went in and talked to them about making good choices."
Deputies Rocky Hebb, at TVHS, and Daniel Pennington, at EMS, are the other two PRO officers in the county. Elbon said the officers not only conduct classes at their respective schools, but at others in the county as well.
"They go to all the schools in the county and hold classes," Elbon said. "During the classes, some of the things they are teaching kids about have to do with bullying, drugs and other things they may encounter, not only at school, but at home as well."
Elbon said each of the county's PRO officers go through special training that helps them prepare for the classes.
"They are required to go to training throughout the year," he said. "They have to take so many hours of classes each year to be able to go into the classrooms and teach. They are doing fantastic work and I get good reviews from staff and parents all the time on these guys. We are tickled with the program and the way it is at this point."
Elbon said a promise he made when running for sheriff was to put officers in some of the schools in Randolph County. And if he had it his way, there would be one in every school in the county.
"We have three full-time officers dedicated to our schools and that is way better than I anticipated it being," Elbon said. "I'd love to have one in every school, but it's all financial when it comes to doing that… I don't see it happening anytime in the near future unless we could get a grant or something. We will take any help we can get for our schools."
Other activities the PRO officers take part in with students include basketball games against the officers at several different schools, and classes about the dangers of drunk driving, where students are asked to drive pedal cars through an obstacle course while wearing a pair of "impaired goggles."`
Another big hit in building relationships with students came in the form of the Sheriff's Office trading cards. An entire set of cards were made for each officer and distributed to elementary schools in the county.
"The officers being in the school has been a benefit to everyone," Elbon said. "It's worked out really well and they all have great rapport with the kids. Anywhere they go across the county the kids love them. They do a tremendous job."