DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997              TAG: 9704120308

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA 

        STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BARCO                             LENGTH:   48 lines

POLICE OFFICER ASSIGNED TO JUNIOR HIGH

Despite complaints that the action was a sad commentary on today's society, the Currituck County boards of commissioners and education have approved putting a police officer in Knapp Junior High School.

``I think it's a sad day - a very sad day - when we have to put a police officer in a school,'' said County Commissioner Paul O'Neal. ``I think it's even sadder when we have to put one in the middle school.''

The comment came during a joint meeting of the boards Thursday night at Currituck County Public Library in Barco.

The new position will be funded for two years primarily through a $68,248 grant from the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission. A $22,734 local match is required.

``I do know that school resource officers at the middle school are a priority with the governor,'' said Julie Douglass, the school administrator who wrote the grant application.

Like most high schools in the Albemarle, Currituck High recently placed a resource officer on its campus to patrol hallways and help educate students.

Currituck County High School resource officer Jim Wheeler stressed that the officers serve as teachers, counselors and positive role models, not just peacekeepers.

In addition to drug and alcohol counseling, the resource officer will be involved in mediation of student disputes at Knapp Junior High.

``There's so many educational aspects of what a resource officer can do,'' Douglass said.

At last month's Board of Education meeting, three parents who withdrew their children from Knapp complained about low academic standards and reports of growing student violence and disrespect.

The withdrawals followed a drug bust at the junior high, which led to seven students being charged with possessing marijuana taken to the school from a student's home.

Schools Superintendent W.R. ``Ronnie'' Capps emphasized that most Knapp students are well-behaved.

``They're in the vast majority,'' Capps said. ``It's a few students who are causing most of the problems.''

School board member Janet Taylor of Moyock added: ``We're being asked to solve problems that we didn't create.''

Among the problems are drugs and disrespect that originate in the home, she said.

``Unfortunately, it's coming to this,'' Taylor noted.

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