By GRAYSON LEE MAXWELL
Rutherford County Schools
Chad Dodson is a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Lascassas Elementary. He has worked with children for more than 30 years and has been an SRO since 2009.
He is also a published children’s book author.
While every SRO in Rutherford County priorities student safety and security, Dodson has gone the extra mile in engaging and building lasting relationships with his students.
In this Q&A, Dodson talks about his role as an SRO and how he engages students with a character named “Pancake.”
Q: How did you get started being an SRO?
A: I started in law enforcement in ’95. I worked for the sheriff's department in another county and stayed there for 11 years, working up to a lieutenant. (I) got out of law enforcement a little while and missed it. I always loved working with kids. So, I got down here and started as an SRO in 2009. I’ve worked at different grade levels, but I’ve been at Lascassas Elementary for seven years.
Q: Why did you think you would be a good fit as an SRO?
A: Well, I’ve always loved working with kids. I started working with kids at church when I was 17 years old — so I’ve been doing it for 32 years altogether. I just always felt that was my purpose. I was working with the youth group and teens. In 2000 I became a dare officer at another department and worked with kids there until 2006.
Q: As an SRO, what do you do regularly? What are your responsibilities?
A: I work with the staff administration, and we develop safety plans and practice those. I look for anything on campus that might look suspicious, and just make sure the kids and staff are all safe. I’m also the coordinator of a team driving program for Rutherford County students. That’s a defensive driving program. Then I coordinated the special needs kids fun fair we started two years ago. I also teach RadKids here, which provides tools to enhance the ability of kids, parents, and families, to protect themselves from violence and harm.
Q: What about teaching kids? How do you go about forming relationships?
A: Well, I’m not afraid to be silly. I try to make the kids laugh. I introduced a stuffed dog to them during the pandemic, to cheer things up you know, named Pancake. And he took off. We’ve done a book; we had T-shirts made. There's even a trading card. You know they love this animal and here we are three years later. I’m asked probably 50 times a day where’s Pancake, or where are some of these animals. He has a car now — dresses up for holidays.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Pancake?
A: I was just trying to think one day, I was sitting out there and interacting with all the kids. They were coming by with their masks on, and everything seemed so sad. I just remembered this dog I had. So, I went and got it and just sat out there one day — just waving at them with his paw. It just took off like wildfire. They started asking me his name, all that stuff, and I didn’t even think that far ahead.
Q: So, there’s a book about Pancake? What is it about?
A: The book is about Pancake coming to school during the pandemic. At the time there were just three characters. There was Pancake, Peekaboo the turtle and T-bone the husky. I wanted to cover being kind — because of all the negativity in the world, we need more kindness. I wanted to cover that not all police officers are bad. And then I wanted to cover how not to unfairly judge people. So, in the book when Peekaboo came in the spring semester, she was scared of police. Pancake had to talk her through that. When T-bone came, they kind of judged him and thought he was bad when he was just trying to fit in. They all became friends after that.
Q: How did students take to this?
A: We wanted to sell these to benefit the school (shirts, books, etc). So, we started selling these and any kind of money that Pancake takes in, 100% of it goes towards a fund called Lascassas Cares, which helps kids in need. It might be for a birthday or just families in need. So that money goes directly to that. It was just something that I had no idea it would take off like it did.
Q: Will you end up doing another book?
A: I am thinking about it. Just trying to play some things around in my mind. I’ve made some notes, but I don’t have a date or anything like that.
Q: Tell me about the culture of Lascassas. What is it like working here?
A: It’s a loving school. It’s a giving school for the community. The families, the teachers ... they care about the kids. And go above and beyond. It’s just a good positive environment. A lot of parent involvement. Ever since I’ve been here, I felt welcome the first day. The kids know the teachers love them, they know the staff loves them, but you know — it's just good.
Q: When it is time for you to move on, what will you miss most about being here?
A: Kids. Definitely the kids. You know, getting out with Pancake, making them laugh ... I know that would be the hardest thing. I've developed a lot of those relationships, even with families.