ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. — Across Roane County, 14 schools will have an armed school resource officer on site. The county has 17 schools in total — so around 80% of schools will have an armed officer to welcome students as they return to class.
At Dellys Elementary, deputy Anthony Hughes wears a badge and welcomes students through the door. They are expected to return for a half-day on Thursday, before their first full day on Aug. 7.
"When the kids get dropped off, they're mine. These are my babies," said Hughes. "It all started when I was a little kid standing up in front of a patrol car, and getting to play with the lights all the way home."
He said he has spent 23 years in law enforcement, and he started considering it as a career as a young child. Now, he welcomes students to school while wearing a badge.
His daily duties include directing traffic, greeting students and checking classrooms. He also prepares to protect students in case a parent's worst nightmare happens.
"You have to play the 'What-if?' game in your head every day to be prepared for what can happen," he said.
Captain Daryl Cook is his superior officer, and the person leading all the SROs in Roane County. He connects school safety and the sheriff's office.
"As SRO you have to be able, one moment to talk to a kid that's six years old, and then talk with their parents, and then you may be dealing with school administration a few minutes after that," Cook said.
He said every SRO in the county goes through multi-faceted training, including CPR training and armed response training. Some of the SRO went through more than 100 hours of training over the summer, he said.
"What's better to have an SRO — someone that is there at that moment?" he said. "If somebody knows that you have an alternative school, could it prevent something dangerous from happening to one of our children?"
Ahead of the new school year, lawmakers also allocated funding for safety improvements at public and private schools. A bill signed during the last legislative session set aside more than $230 million for improvements at public and private schools.
Around $30 million of those funds were for placing 100 homeland security agents in every county in Tennessee to serve in public and private schools. Around $140 million was also allocated for placing armed school resource officers at every public school.