Election day is here, and the ballot contains big changes for different areas of the country and Louisiana. One of those involves a specific change in Livingston Parish in order to secure student safety.
The February shooting killing 17 people in Parkland, FL, served as a wake-up to the Livingston Parish School Board.
On August 16, 2018, the board unanimously passed a half-cent sales tax that will fund a law enforcement officer in every school in the parish.
Jason St. Pierre is the Principal at Walker High School in Livingston Parish. Walker High School has an officer currently on its campus, and St. Pierre has personally seen the impact even one officer can have.
”When you have a presence of a law enforcement officer on your campus each and every day, it eases the minds of the teachers, the students and also the parents,” St. Pierre said. “When they see a parked car. When they see an officer at lunch time, officers walking at lunch time, and they have a relationship with the kids, so if anything did happen, they have an opportunity to go speak to that law enforcement officer.”
Both Officer Wesley Clarkson and Deputy Robbie Ellis have worked in Livingston Parish schools and believe it’s essential to have a police presence in schools.
“I love being out there catching the bad guys, but if I can go into the school and keep these kids from making those wrong decisions that I have put the adults in jail for, I think I will get a better reward out of that,” Deputy Ellis explained.
Like Deputy Ellis said, the officers are in the schools for safety, but they also play and important role of mentor to many of the students they come in contact with.
The problem officers are facing is that they are often stretched between more than one school, and because of that, it is hard to protect all their students at once. It is because of this and the importance of keeping schools safe that the support is so strong amongst the officers.
“I’m all for it, regardless of if I wasn’t in law enforcement,” Deputy Ellis said. “I have no kids in school anymore. Mine are grown up.”
Although the tax passed overwhelmingly in the board, the battle is not over yet.
The people of the parish make their decision today.
