Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Haines, Gaier, Baxter, Leichtnam
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 9/09/2020
Neillsville-Granton to Share School Resource Officer (Baxter - 2020)
By Valorie Brecht & Ryan Spoehr
Through a federal grant, the Neillsville and Granton school districts will have access to a school resource officer (SRO) for up to three years, and perhaps even more. The officer is employed by the Clark County Sheriff’s Department and will work full-time in the schools, dividing his time between the two school districts.
“We’re excited. We’ve been trying to get an officer into the schools ever since DARE [Drug Abuse Resistance and Education] was discontinued,” said Clark County Sheriff Scott Haines. “I think it’s going to be a great thing.”
The SRO is one of several initiatives in Clark and Wood counties being funded through a $1 million Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grant administered by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The HRSA awarded the grant to Family Health Center of Marshfield, which is acting at the facilitator to carry out the initiatives in the two counties. The grant went into effect Sept. 1 and lasts for three years.
The grant covers the costs of the school resource officer in the first year, including an annual salary of approximately $76,000 and Wisconsin SRO training for approximately $400. The grant covers 50 percent of the costs in the second year and 15 percent in the third.
The Neillsville and Granton each approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the sheriff’s department at their respective school board meetings, which were both on Aug. 31. The MOU is for one year and is subject to annual review. The districts will be able to opt out of the agreement if there isn’t money to cover the whole endeavor the second and third year years.
However, Neillsville School District Administrator John Gaier said his district might not have to shoulder all of the financial costs in the last two years of the grant.
“The Clark County Sheriff’s Department, as well as, I think, in cooperation with the Neillsville Police Department, to some degree, and the school district, they believe they can up with the funding for the other two years,” Gaier said at the school board meeting.
Haines said there may also be other grant opportunities available to help pay for the remaining portion.
The mission of the SRO program is to “improve school safety and the educational climate at school,” according to the MOU. The SRO will be responsible for dealing with criminal law issues but will not be there to enforce school discipline or punish students.
“There’s a lot of things going on with school resource officers, and the idea of having school resource officers, and the idea of having school resource officers in schools. I think it’s virtually important, if you can, [to] have school resource officers,” Gaier said. “I think learning respect for those positions as well as finding out those people are human and having that human connection [are important]. He would be, foundationally, a part of our faculty.”
The SRO/deputy sheriff is a sworn position within the sheriff’s department. The position has already been filled.
Dylan Baxter
“We were fortunate to have a person on staff. Dylan Baxter put in for it and accepted the position. I believe he’s going to be very good for the position,” said Haines.
Baxter joined the sheriff’s department Jan. 1 and has been serving as the courthouse security deputy, as part of the patrol division. He is spending this week shadowing SROs at schools in the surrounding area. Haines and Baxter are also planning to have a virtual round-table discussion with SROs and superintendents in the surrounding area, to get ideas for programming for students. The hope is that Baxter will be in the schools within the next month or so. The sheriff’s department will hire someone else to fill the security deputy position.
Baxter is looing forward to his new role.
“I am thankful to have found this career. It’s a career that fits like a glove for me,” he said.
But law enforcement wasn’t always his planned career.
“I was actually going to school to be a dentist,” he said.
He got his associate’s degree and worked in pediatric orthodontics, but after four years, “I fell out of love with it,” said Baxter.
He changed his major halfway through college and graduated from UW-La Crosse in May 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with an emphasis in abnormal adolescent and childhood development. He then attended Western Technical College’s 720-hour Public Safety Academy and received his Department of Justice licensure as a law enforcement officer in October 2016.
“He is a nice, young guy that’s new in the community and very energetic. He has been a school resource officer in the past in other places,” Gaier said.
Baxter worked as a deputy for the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office from 2017 to 2019. The county was split into sectors and each deputy on day shift covered one of sectors. The deputy was expected to act as SRO for that sector. Baxter was regularly in the De Soto, Kickapoo, Westby and Hillsboro schools. He would walk the halls and interact with students. He also regularly volunteered to monitor school dances.
“As a kid, I loved to breakdance. So, I would bust out some moves at the school dances. I would start busting out moves and the kids would lose their minds,” he said.
But, he said, it was one way to connect with students and become known by them. Then when he saw those students outside of school in a crime situation or potentially dangerous situation, they didn’t see him as a scary cop but as someone they could approach for help, said Baxter.
“They would say, ‘You’re the dancing cop!’” said Baxter.
Baxter doesn’t see his role in schools a punisher but rather as a mentor, counselor and educator for students. The education piece will be for students of all ages.
Baxter’s hire falls under a broader grant objective to provide targeted youth programming for substance use disorder prevention and intervention in all Clark County schools, so his role will include educating students on those topics. Other topics he might discuss with students include bullying, confrontation de-escalation techniques and internet safety. The curriculum is yet to be determined, but it will be based off recommendations from other school districts and the individual needs of the Granton and Neillsville school districts.
In addition, Baxter will be available to provide staff training on personal safety, crime prevention and building security, as the school district deems necessary.
“Every district is different, so I want to tailor the plan to what their needs are,” said Baxter
As SRO, Baxter will also be responsible for dealing with criminal law issues and safety threats that arise in school. He said that at previous districts, too many times he saw students become part of a vicious cycle where they would do something wrong, get ticketed by the SRO and turn around and do it again.
“I want to put a stop to that cycle,” said Baxter. “I want to do as much as we can without issuing citations or sending them to a juvenile detention center. Because research shows that when you rehab a student in a less severe setting and they’re able to stay at home and still go to school, that student has better outcomes than if you send them to juvenile detention. Obviously, I’m not giving them a free pass on everything they do. … But I want to try and nip it in the bud and keep it in-house as much as possible.”
Baxter also views his role as a community officer. He wants to be a point of contact for community members if they need someone to confide in or need help with something. In the end, Baxter said, it’s about building relationships with community members and students.
“It’s all about trust,” he said. “In my patrol functions, I worked often with kids. And the kid could hate my guts and just be cussing me out, but once they knew they could trust me, that all changed. After speaking with them as a concerned human being – not as a police officer with this uniform and shiny badge but just as a human being – kids will open up like a book. With time and counseling, kids will come around.
“They’re not hardened criminals; they’re just learning about life. I want to guide them down the right path and be there for them.”
Baxter lives in Cadott. When he is not working, he enjoys building computer systems, and spending time with is fiancée Kristin and rescue dog Dexter.
Dylan Baxter is shown with his fiancée Kristin. Baxter began working for the county sheriff’s department this year and will serve as a school resource officer for the Neillsville and Granton school districts. Submitted photos.
Baxter will not be the first SRO in a Clark County school district. The Colby-Abbotsford Police Department has had a SRO, Patrick Leichtnam, who splits his time between the two neighboring school districts. This year, Leichtnam is transitioning to be a full-time police officer and social worker for the Abbotsford School District.
