LPOSD expands campus officer team

At the start of the 2023-24 academic year, Lake Pend Oreille School District joined a small collection of Idaho districts employing armed campus security when it hired a pair of former law enforcement officers to work full-time in local schools.

Since then, the district has expanded the program by hiring an additional officer to sustain and fulfill a district priority: being prepared for emergencies and making and keeping local schools safe. 

Officers in schools 

It’s not uncommon to see armed officers in schools across the U.S. Often, they’re school resource officers (SROs) — law enforcement personnel employed by local police departments who split time serving schools and performing duties for their municipalities. 

“You’re kind of playing both roles, instead of just focusing on one,” Derrick Hagstrom, LPOSD’s newest campus security officer (CSO), said of the SRO model. 

Hagstrom joined the district full-time in December 2024 after 18 years as a Sandpoint Police Department officer, some of which were spent as an SRO in LPOSD. 

Hagstrom recalled the challenge of forming strong connections with staff and students while sometimes being pulled away to fulfill police department duties. In his new role, Hagstrom said, the narrower scope allows him to get to know those he protects better. 

“From my experience, this is a much more effective way to reach children and impact them,” he said of the CSO model. 

In Idaho’s tight school funding climate, employing, equipping and providing benefits for even a single staff security officer is a tall order for most districts. Rathdrum’s Lakeland School District became the first in the state to bring security in-house in 2018 under the leadership of then-superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer, who repeated the effort in LPOSD shortly after becoming its superintendent in 2022. 

LPOSD affords the CSO team with support from local foundation Panhandle Alliance for Education and by using Idaho Safe and Drug Free Schools funds — state money generated through taxes on tobacco products and lottery winnings and offered to districts each year. 

Preparedness projects 

While the security team’s primary goal is to maintain a safe learning environment on a daily basis, the recent expansion has allowed staff and administrators to turn their attention to the future. 

The district’s CSOs recently led a reunification drill at Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School designed to prepare staff, students and families for emergencies like a gas leak or a school shooting.

In the drill, district staff evacuated students from the school and moved them to an off-campus location. There, staff practiced passing students off to their parents or family members and ensuring all students were accounted for. 

“We all know that if you've never done something, you won't do it that well,” Hagstrom said. “To now have people putting those plans together and actually exercising drills makes our students and our staff far safer than we were, and more prepared.”   

LPOSD intends to perform a similar exercise at all 11 of its schools in the coming years and has ambitions to collaborate with area law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies for a joint drill that would better simulate a real crisis. 

“It's important that we're all on the same page and are able to work together,” Hagstrom said. “Because, essentially, it's a community effort to keep us all safe.” 

Building trust 

Before any of LPOSD’s CSOs were hired, they passed through a stringent evaluation process that included questions presented by staff, students and parents. 

“It was probably one of my hardest interviews that I’ve been through,” CSO JD McElroy said. 

Once each CSO was hired and got to work, they then began the process of gaining the trust of faculty and students. 

CSO Keith Delahanty said that because civilians can be apprehensive of law enforcement, it took time for students and staff to become comfortable having him around. 

“Eventually we're with these people every single day,” he said. “They see how good you are working with the kids, and that you care about them, and you're not just out hunting them down and trying to get them in trouble.” 

After trust is established, Delahanty said the student body becomes a major resource for the CSOs. 

“90% of the things that are going on in the school that we want to know about, we find out because kids come to us, because they trust us,” he said. “Therefore, they're safer.” 

Beyond safety 

When they aren’t actively responding to threats or emergencies, LPOSD’s CSOs say they try to help students in any way they can. 

Hagstrom said he finds himself playing football during recess, pushing kids on swings, filling in on lunch duty and serving as a reading buddy for students developing literacy skills. 

“We're used in other roles that the school needs,” he said. “That’s one of the ways we're keeping them safe, is building those relationships and helping them to succeed in school and feel safe and comfortable.” 

Both Delahanty and Hagstrom said they also find themselves serving as male role models and mentors in spaces sometimes otherwise devoid of them. 

The National Center for Education Statistics reported that during the 2020-21 academic year, 77% of U.S. public-school teachers were female. In elementary schools specifically, the proportion was 89%. 

“At one of my schools, I'm the only male staff member,” Hagstrom said. “For some kids, it's important to have both roles.” 

McElroy said he finds the work most fulfilling when he welcomes and horses around with students outside the entrance to Sandpoint High School before the school day begins. 

“They just grin,” he said. “I can joke with them and have that rapport to where they know that no matter what, I want to greet them with a smile to start their day.” 

The effect has also been true for Hagstrom, who even in his short time in the district, has already found the work rewarding. 

His experiences supporting students remind him why he chose his career path when he started with Sandpoint Police Department 18 years ago: “I wanted to be a cop because I wanted to help people.” 

In his role as a CSO, “there has been a kid every day that has made a lasting impression,” Hagstrom said. “What's going on in their lives is oftentimes incredible, sometimes a little sad.” 

When he lends a student a hand, “you can see the impact that you're creating immediately. Their face brightens up, and you change the course of their day in that moment,” Hagstrom said. 

“We're there to keep people safe, but we're making a difference in the meantime,” he added.