The first major step in adding a school resource officer in the Pella community was completed this week when the Pella School Board approved funding nearly half the cost of the hire at their meeting.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling tells KRLS News one of their overarching goals in the past year was to make the school district safer for all students, and having a full-time police officer in the district is a big step in that direction.

“One nice thing last year that the legislators did was give us that flexibility with our at-risk funding, to be able to use if for safety things, and a school resource officer is one of those things,” Ebeling says.

Officer Nathan Wolff has been serving as a liaison officer with the Pella Police Department, working full time as a patrol officer and part-time at both Pella and Pella Christian. Assuming the Pella City Council approves their half of the measure, he looks forward to the chance to connect with students on a full-time basis.

“Schools are really the front line to grow that relationship with the students and the youth,” he says. “Hopefully, we can kind of turn this motto we have kind of going around the country now that cops are kind of bad guys, but now we get to show the kids we’re the good guys and get to have a lot of fun with them.”

“So far, I’ve been teaching a handful of classes, and coming and being a guest speaker for a handful of classes, to a handful of sports games and try to get to the schools as much as I can to get to know the principals and administration, and hopefully next year I’ll really be able to get to know the kids.”

The Pella City Council will consider the position in their upcoming budget process for the 2020 fiscal year. If approved, Wolff will begin working full-time as a school resource officer in August. Pella Christian is partially funding the effort as well, and Wolff will spend time at all schools in the city as part of the effort.