Neillsville School District's Shared Resource Officer

Thursday, January 28th, 2021 -- 1:00 PM

-Recently, the Neillsville School District, in an effort spearheaded by the Clark County Sheriff’s Department, was able to hire a shared school resource officer with the Granton School District and St. John’s in Neillsville.

I spoke with Neillsville District Administrator John Gaier and he explained how that process began.

Mr. Gaier:  “Sheriff Scott Haines reached out to us and was interested in developing a resource officer position at the county and they actually wrote a grant that they were able to receive for 3 years, which helps support the funding for a school resource officer."

"And Dylan Baxter was hired as our school resource officer.  He’s been working here for the past few months.  Dylan is known as Deputy Dylan around here with our staff and our kids and he has just been amazing to have here.”

“He goes into classrooms at all levels and talks about safety measures.  He will talk about the law.  He will talk about relationships between law enforcement and community.  And he’s developed a tremendous rapport with our students and our staff."

"We have also had Dylan help with truancy issues, helping kids resolve any kinds of problems that they might have.  So, he’s just been a tremendously welcome addition here.  We share Deputy Dylan with the School District of Granton and St. John’s here in Neillsville.  So, he works all three.”

“If you take a look, there will be a decal on one of the squad cars that Dylan uses.  It is a design that represents that school resource officer position.  And it is a combination of the logos of the School District of Neillsville, the School District of Granton and St. John’s."

"It was actually developed by one of our 12th grades students in a contest that Dylan sponsored, so when you see that around the community, you’ll know that is Deputy Dylan.”

“And he, again, has been just a wonderful addition, has a tremendous personality, and has worked really well with us.  And we really appreciate the Clark County Sheriff’s Department and Deputy Dylan and all that they have done in order to make this happen.  It is a great addition to our community.”

Question:  “When the grant’s 3-year time is up, will  the district look at ways to keep Deputy Dylan?”

Mr. Gaier:  “Yeah, we’ve had that conversation from the get go because we know that, a lot of times, grants are soft money and that they do expire.  Sheriff Haines and the district have talked about what would happen in the future."

"Sheriff Haines believes that he can help get some money to support this position in the future.  And I’m hoping that if the community starts to understand how important this position is, that they will have no problems in helping support this position, even if we have to do it more locally then through grants."

"So, we’re excited about that and, at this rate, there’s no doubt that Deputy Dylan is earning the respect for us to continue this program far into the future.”

Question:  “Anything else/final thoughts?”

Mr. Gaier:  “Not at this time, but be looking for video of Deputy Dylan in our classrooms and outreach by Deputy Dylan.  He is here to be an advocate for kids and we’re just really, really happy to have the position.”

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.