TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo Public Schools will have a new chief safety officer in about two months.
Nancy Thompson, who has been a TPS school resource officer since 2006 and served in law enforcement for years prior, will assume her new position after current Chief Safety Officer Diana Ruiz-Krause retires on June 30.
Thompson wants to address school safety issues and concerns with a mentorship approach while increasing the number of officers in schools.
Through her work as a school resource officer, Thompson said she has seen fighting, criminal misbehavior and weapons, but through working with kids she said these issues can be boiled down to some simple reasons.
"Sometimes it's a lack of resources and basic needs. And sometimes it's peer pressure or all of the above, but they're no different than anyone else," Thompson said.
So how do you steer kids away from these behaviors? Thompson said mentorship from school resource officers is the way to go.
"If I'm assigned to a group of kids, I'm going to constantly check in, monitor their progress and let them know we have the resources, we're here to listen and we're here to help," she said.
Thompson said that's why increasing the number of school resource officers in TPS is one of her biggest priorities as she steps into her new role, echoing calls from Governor DeWine and other leaders across the state to increase measures of safety in public schools.
"That is the ultimate goal, and we constantly train, train and re-train, but absolutely, the more safety forces for the schools the better," Thompson said.
TPS currently has six resource officers. Thompson wants to at least double that number.
But her priorities extend beyond just adding more officers. Thompson said she's working on putting more metal detectors in every school and offering more after-school programs to keep kids occupied and happy, saying her mission statement is to ensure no one feels unsafe on school grounds.
"Our goal is to provide as much safety and security for everyone on our campuses, that includes staff students and visitors," Thompson said.
As the school year comes to a close, Thomspon also said she's going to send school resource officers to visit kids in the summer that need extra guidance, in an attempt to help keep them on the right path and prepare for the transition back to school in the fall.