After three years as the El Dorado High School Resource Officer, James Smith has taken a position in Douglass; his last day at EHS was Friday. Smith will be acting as the sole officer of Douglass Unified School District 396’s newly formed on-campus police department, looking after the elementary, middle and high school.

Vice Principal Kevin House worked closely with Smith during his tenure at EHS, sharing two sides of the discipline process together.

“We worked with a lot of students together,” House said. “He was a good asset to have in helping with both school and legal issues that would happen once in a while.”
House said he and Smith had a good professional relationship.

“We worked well together,” House said. “He could explain to kids how certain actions could affect them for the rest of their lives, I would try to explain why the educational part of it was so important.

“We both ultimately had the same goal in helping kids to be successful, we were just able to use different methods and strategies to help them get there.”

Acting as a liaison between the school and police department, Smith was able to quickly handle any issues with vandalism or thefts that came up. House said he felt Smith’s presence had a significant impact on the decreased number of fights at EHS during the last three years.

“He had a great rapport with the kids,” House said.

Smith also acted as the sponsor for Students Against Destructive Decisions, and helped implement the school’s random drug testing policy two years ago.

“It’s been a very positive piece,” House said. “It’s been imitated around the state. A couple of schools have taken the same policy and tweaked it to fit their own schools.”
House said he’ll miss Smith beyond their working relationship, as well.

“I lost a good liaison and a peer, but I also lost a friend here,” House said. “We hated to see him leave. I wish him the best of success in Douglass.”

Though a full-time replacement for Smith has yet to be found, the school does have another officer who is helping in the meantime. However, House said, Smith won’t be leaving El Dorado completely.

“We’ll still see him around,” House said. “He has ties to El Dorado High School. His kids graduated from here and so he still wants to see it be successful.”

El Dorado Middle School Resource Officer Kurt Spivey worked closely with Smith, often combining efforts and teaming up on the district’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

“It was always an adventure working with James,” Spivey said. “You never knew what you were going to get. He has quite a sense of humor. He brightened your day a lot of times.”

Nevertheless, Spivey said, Smith took his job seriously.

“I sure hate that he’s gone,” Spivey said. “He’d done a really good job at the high school, but I can’t blame him for going. He got an increase in wages and got a good position. I can’t blame him for wanting to better himself.”

“He’s wonderful and he’s wonderful with high school students in particular,” said USD 490 Superintendent Sue Givens. “It’s certainly a loss for our SRO program.”

DHS Principal Chad Higgins said Smith has already done “a great job” at Douglass.

“He’s taken the initiative to meet kids,” Higgins said. “Everything he’s been asked to do, he’s already doing. I think he’s doing a good job fitting in with our staff.”