SPRINGVILLE – During Thursday’s meeting of the Springville Community Academy Rural Foundation board, members approved the salary and benefits package for B.J. Fulkerson, who recently began working in the school as their school resource officer.
Fulkerson, an officer with over 20 years of experience for the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, was selected by the board for the position, before being approved by Sheriff Greg Day.
In addition to his long tenure working in law enforcement, working in schools is nothing new to Fulkerson, who worked as an SRO for Shawswick Elementary School for two years previously. He also served as a DARE officer for five years prior to this.
“It’s not new. It’s a new chapter for me, it’s the same book though. And I’m really excited to do this again,” said Fulkerson. “I’m really excited about the school. It’s a charter school and the staff here are very supportive.”
He went on to describe the duties of his role, which include building safety, counseling students and relaying necessary information to other agencies, such as the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s office.
“Basically you’re the police officer and this is your beat. And so you’re it’s building safety security. Cameras, do a lot of mentoring and counseling with kids. Maybe they have trouble at home or they had a traumatic event. And we come in and talk to her to where they disclose something that we need to follow up on with other agencies, and then submit something to the prosecutor for charges,” Fulkerson explained. “We conduct active shooter drills lockdown drills. We actually, I timed those here and I keep record of those. I train staff and kids on how to react if something were to go awry in the school for their safety and survival. So there’s a lot of hats you wear in a day. I might go from high-fiving a kid one minute, to we’re in my office talking to them about something else.”
The effort to get an SRO in the charter school was a joint one, with Springville Community Academy and the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department coming together to make it a reality.
Day told county commissioners in a March meeting that he was approached by SCA principal Jayme Davis about the prospect of getting an officer for the school after they secured a grant that would cover the costs of a salary. Shortly after, Fulkerson was selected by the SCA board and approved by Day for the position.
Day also donated a department vehicle that was unused to the school to be used by Fulkerson, who will also serve the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department as a reserve deputy.
“I’d like to say that Sheriff Greg has been amazing with his support and the logistical support too, with donating a fully marked Sheriff’s Department vehicle and I’ll be acting as a sheriff’s deputy, special deputy for the sheriff’s department in this role. And, I think the emergency management Lawrence County Emergency Management and Sheriff Day are providing a radio and our Spillman software for case reports. Everything’s just falling into place really well for this,” he said.
