Nell Holcomb installs new school resource officer

The Nell Holcomb R-IV School District has a new face in its halls: school resource officer Heather VanGennip now works full-time for the district.

Nell Holcomb, located on Highway 177 in Cape Girardeau County, is an outlying school, and superintendent Darryl Pannier said the district worked with county officials to arrive at a solution.

The district had shared an SRO with other outlying schools, and that was no longer adequate, Pannier said.

So, the district and now-Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson worked out an agreement.

Nell Holcomb pays 75 percent of the officer's salary and benefits, and the county pays 25 percent, he said.

VanGennip is deputized through the sheriff's department, he added.

She'll also be the safety coordinator, meaning she'll run active shooter drills, intruder drills and weather-related drills.

"We want people to know that student, faculty and staff safety is paramount for us," Pannier said. "We know we can't prevent everything, but if we can be as prepared as possible, we want to be."