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Resource officer wins national award
Robert C. Reed
Catawba County Sheriff’s Deputy Tammy Johnson was selected as the national school resource officer of the year.
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Published: October 7, 2008
MAIDEN - After eight years as Maiden Middle School's resource officer, Tammy Johnson was selected as the 2008 National School Resource Officer of the Year.
It was a surprising honor, but unnecessary. Johnson said she is just doing the job she loves.
"It was a real surprise. It was great," Johnson said. "But I'm here as a resource for the schools."
Her job consists of talking to the students, being a mentor for them, being an official law enforcement presence at the school, teaching D.A.R.E. and drug awareness to seventh-graders, as well as an Internet bullying class to all students, and handling any incidents that come up at the school.
In July, Johnson went to Arizona to receive the award at a national conference.
She was nominated by Maiden Middle School's principal, Nan VanHoy, for the honor. VanHoy said she nominated Johnson because of her consistently excellent work.
"A lot of times, people are nominated because they do something heroic," she said. "We forget to nominate people who do a good job every day. She puts in a lot of hours she doesn't have to at ball games, after-school activities — she's interested in other facets of the students' lives."
Johnson was a road officer with the Catawba County Sheriff's Office before she became a school resource officer. Since coming to work at Maiden Middle School, she's dealt with fights, bullying, 911 hang-up calls, bomb threats and child-custody matters.
"It's what you deal with on the road, but at school," Johnson said. "The kids know that I'm here if they get in trouble. From day one, they know there's law enforcement and they'll have to deal with it, but I'm not mean or a big bear."
VanHoy said Johnson takes the students' concerns seriously, working to quell matters before they become bigger problems.
"When students have concerns, she doesn't brush them off. She doesn't wait until a fight breaks out. She works to address concerns ahead of time," VanHoy said.
Johnson's also been proactive with school safety, last year working concession stands and courting businesses to raise about $15,000 for security cameras to make Maiden Middle a safer school, VanHoy said.
"She's also made me see safety from a whole other perspective," VanHoy said. "I've gone with her to her N.C. Association of SRO meetings and it's made me think about Internet safety for our students. We've had someone from the attorney general's office come here to show how easy it is to find a child on a MySpace page — they can do it in 28 minutes. She's made me aware of the physical safety and made me be more proactive."
Johnson was honored Monday afternoon with a reception at the school.
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