Welcome WHS to the SRO Blog in the news!

Welcome Parents, Students, Staff and Visitors to Watertown High School located at 825 Endeavour Drive, Watertown, WI (920)262-7502 to the first ever blog site created to provide viewers with incite into safety concerns that affect all who enter our schools of the Watertown School District.

I am Officer Phil Neidner of the Watertown Police Department, currently assigned to the Watertown High School and Middle School as a School Resource Officer or SRO. I have been a police officer for Watertown since October of 1985! When asked prior to being hired what one of my goals were, I replied, "To work with students." I spent the first nine years working 2nd and 3rd Watch as a Patrol Officer. During the 1994/95 school year I was assigned to teach Drug Abuse Resistance Education or D.A.R.E. within the School District to 5th grade students. I held this position until the 2004/05 school year when I replaced the then SRO. My first term ends after this school year (2007/08) and I have recently been notified that I have been extended for an additional four year term! I will now be able to continue such programs as Students Are Watching (S.A.W.) a crime prevention program that allows students to anonymously report knowledge of drugs and/or weapons on school district property. You can read more about this program and others in the weeks to come within this blog.

The SRO is a unique assignment allowing the officer, students, parents and school staff to work together to develop a safer learning environment. The SRO works not only as a police officer, but as a counselor, teacher, friend, role-model and resource person. I welcome any student to stop in my office just to say "hi" if nothing else.

For the majority of my law enforcement career I have worked with young people. These same kids are the future and time needs to be spent with them developing their goals. This "time" comes in many forms; eating lunch with them, seeing them at a sporting or musical event to simply saying "good morning". Develop their potential! Spend the time, it "IS" worth it!

Please feel free to post concerns or topics of future blog articles. Visit often as new stories will surface from time to time. For more information on what is an SRO go to the National Association of School Resource Officers.