Security concerns nationwide are prompting school districts to re-evaluate how they provide for the safety of their students, faculty and staff.

Such efforts can be seen in Hancock County where school board officials recently announced a plan to station prevention resource officers in all of the county’s schools.

Resource officers are nothing new in our area’s schools. For many years, officers have been stationed in local high schools and then middle schools.

With the new plan expansion, law enforcement representatives also will be available in all of the county’s elementary schools and the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center.

PROs for the county’s three schools in Weirton will come from the Weirton Police Department, according to school officials, while the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department will provide deputies for the remainder of the county.

A resource officer provides additional security and performs any needed law enforcement operations on school property, during school hours, but they also promote positive relationships between students, teachers and law enforcement. The idea being that if a student feels there may be a problem, they have someone they can trust to report it.

There will, of course, be a cost for this program, and while some grants have been available, most of the balance will be provided by the local governmental entities, which means using taxpayer dollars. The safety of our children is worth the cost, though.

We thank the Hancock County School Board, Hancock County Commission, Weirton Council, Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and Weirton Police Department for their efforts to continue providing a safe environment for our youth.