Lisa Schaps, Prospect’s new Security Resource Officer (SRO), recalls getting a phone call at approximately 4 p.m. on Friday, May 17. She was at home with her two daughters, getting ready for an over-time detail at AMC movie theater. On the other end of the line were the Division Heads of Student Success, Safety and Wellness, Nick Olson and Lisa Soukop, as well as Associate Principal Kara Kendrick. On speaker phone, the three administrators informed Schaps that she had gotten the job of Prospect’s new SRO.
Schaps remembers thanking them and being very excited as she hugged her two daughters. After that, she called her husband, who also works at the Mount Prospect Police Department as a police sergeant.
In order to be eligible for an SRO position, an officer must have at least five years of experience doing police work, as well as be certified as a juvenile officer.
However, according to former Prospect SRO, Chris Rondeau, qualifications were not the sole basis of the job. When hiring an SRO, they also look for how the officer interacts with people and what kind of personality they have. For the job, they have to be able to work well with teenagers, interact with the community well and work by themselves with very little supervision because of how the position is detached from the police department.
“We call it a self-starter… someone who can go out and doesn’t need a lot of direction from supervision,” Rondeau said. “There’s a lot of trust and personal responsibility that needs to be with that person over at the school. They’re going to need to be able to do the job 90, 95% of the time by themselves — they need to have good decision making skills… For us, it’s a member of the department that’s out more in the community, so the way they act, and compose and handle themselves, has a strong impact on how the community sees the police department.”
There's a new sheriff (Schaps) in town
September, 2019
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Typically, an SRO is stationed at a high school for four years. However, Rondeau was promoted to sergeant within the Mount Prospect Public Police Department after his third year. Thus, he left without completing his fourth and final year.
“I tested for our promotion process, and when you do it you get put on a list and then you just play a waiting game,” Rondeau said. “So [a promotion] happens when it happens, and when it happens you get to take your shot.”
When it came to choosing his replacement, Rondeau felt that not only does Schaps have extensive professional experience as a police officer, but is also a very hard worker. Moreover, he felt that her being a parent within the district and the community could help more with understanding how to deal with and talk to high school students.
According to Schaps, she has been a Field Training Officer, a Drug Enforcement Officer, a Crime-free Housing Officer, an Evidence Technician and is a current member of the Honor Guard. In total, she has been an officer for 16 years.
In addition to her experience and credentials, Rondeau notes that Schaps had a lot of original ideas to mold the position into her own.
For example, Schaps points to the remodeling of the SRO office (within the attendance office) to make it more comfortable. Specifically, she repainted the walls and rearranged the desk and chairs in such a manner that she feels will allow for more discussion and connection, rather than a student feeling like they were being looked down upon.
“I was thinking, ‘well gosh if I have to go talk to the school resource officer, that wouldn’t be very comfortable,’” Schaps said. “It’s a happier place to be, I think.”
Moreover, she started live streaming up to nine security cameras throughout the building directly to her office, so even when she is not out in the halls interacting with students, she can still monitor things. Plus, she created a lost and found form where students can file a report over lost items and she can conduct small investigations to help find them.
In an attempt to familiarize the school with local law enforcement, Schaps had walked the local fire department, as well as multiple police officers, through the school over the summer. Her reasoning is that, in case of an emergency, the fire and the police department would have a better idea of where the exits were, as well as the general layout of the building.
Lastly, according to Schaps, it was established since the beginning of SROs in the 70’s that SROs would drive their personal car to school and receive a reimbursement for gas afterwards. However, Schaps says that the problem with this is that sometimes they would have to conduct police business out of their personal cars which could prove tedious or inefficient. When she took over, she decided that there should a squad car at the school so people would know that police were present — not to mention that it comes in handy for any off-campus tasks that may arise. Therefore, Schaps goes to the station every day before school, drops off her personal car and gets the squad car, then drops it back off at the station after school.
For Schaps, becoming an SRO was all about finding the right time in both her professional and personal life. When she was in high school, she remembers the SRO at her school and how cool of a guy he seemed to be. From then on, Schaps says that it always seemed like a really cool idea to be an SRO, and after becoming an officer, she knew it was going to be in her future.
However, Schaps says that she didn’t think being an SRO would be appropriate with multiple of her own kids within the district. Now, having had two kids graduate from Buffalo Grove High School, one kid currently attending BG and another attending Cooper Middle School, she felt that, since Rondeau was promoted, this year would be a great opportunity.
Despite waiting until now, Schaps also believes that having a child within the district is beneficial to the new position, as she is familiar with how the schools and the district work as a whole. For example, she says that she already knows the student handbook.
According to Schaps, her favorite aspect about the job is working with the staff and students by being in the building. Schaps says that if she was answering a 911 call as a regular officer, she could offer all the resources and guidance she can, but the odds of her getting to follow up with those people are slim, as there are many shifts and many officers that rotate between areas.
“What’s cool about being here is that, long term, if there is a student that I get to interact with [who] needs guidance or resources, I get to be here for four years,” Schaps said. “I get to see those changes and see those connections made, versus me just coming in and out of a home.”
Schaps stresses that she loves and is looking forward to establishing this type of connection with staff and students alike. During the teacher institute days before school started, she took the time to introduce herself, as well as speak a little bit about her philosophy on police work, what she’s been trained in and what she has done and plans to do with her career.
She also made it clear to the administration that she wanted a couple of minutes during ‘One Prospect’ day to introduce herself to the freshmen. In addition, Schaps has established connections with staff members such as Law teacher Jay Heilman.
“I made a point to, during an institute day, stop by her office just to reconnect after coming back from summer, and let her know that she is welcome any time in my classroom,” Heilman said. “I think it’s important that she has regular contact with at least my law students, because I know some of them may want to be police officers and it’s a good way to establish... connection and relationships.”
Heilman also stresses the importance of Schaps spontaneously stopping by no matter what is going on in his classroom.
“Sometimes learning happens at unexpected moments, and I don’t want to miss those unexpected moments,” Heilman said. “I also like to keep my teaching [of students] real, and so having a real police officer show their human side — their normal side — I think is important for students to see because that way I think they can imagine themselves being in that career when they see the normal interactions of a person who’s in that career.”
Schaps agrees, also prioritizing her interaction with students.
“Right now, it’s not the easiest time to be a police officer, and I’ve been a cop for 16 years, so to me, [these have] been some of the roughest years,” Schaps said. “It’s tough to go places when someone doesn’t like you. They instantly don’t like me when they don’t even know me.”
With this concept in mind, Schaps expresses an overwhelming desire to connect with both staff and students on a personal level, which continues to be a major goal of hers as she settles into her job.
“For me, the most important thing [of me] being here is to make sure the students that go to Prospect can humanize and personalize a relationship with a police officer, because I’m just a person,” Schaps said. “[So] what I’m doing is making sure I am out in the hallways, saying hello.”