Lexington Christian Academy adding two new school resources officers to campuses
Lexington Christian Academy and the Fayette County Sheriff’s office announced a partnership on Thursday that will add two school resource officers at the academy’s campuses next school year.
One resource officer will be placed on the Rose campus while the other will be at the Immanuel Baptist campus. Each will spend a semester at both campuses and will stay with Lexington Christian Academy for the entirety of the 2022-23 school year.
“Our number one priority is the safety and protection of our students, faculty, and staff,” Dr. Scott Wells, head of school for the academy, said in a press release. “To that end, we are delighted to enter into a formal partnership with the Office of the Fayette County Sheriff which is comprised of professionals with a long and distinguished history in our community.”
As part of their duty, the resource officers will help train and educate school staff members and students, develop safety plans and serve as a liaison between schools and outside agencies, in addition to enforcing laws.
Both officers are also certified to teach D.A.R.E., so they will teach that program to Lexington Christian Academy students for the first time in the school’s history.
“It’s an extremely important program. It’s important for all Fayette County students to hear about D.A.R.E.,” said Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt
One of the resource officers is Deputy Brittany Whitcomb, who will be promoted to sergeant on June 1. Witt said she’s been with the sheriff’s office for nine years and has done an outstanding job since she started with the office.
“We’re just so excited,” Whitcomb said. “Just to be able to partner here at LCA, building relationships with the children and their families and faculty, I can’t be more humble right now.”
The other resource officer is chaplain Anthony Palmer, who has been with the sheriff’s office for 13 years. He has served as a chaplain since October 2018 and has also worked in the courts and field operations.
“I’m super excited about it,” Palmer said. “Couldn’t sleep at all this morning, just thankful I got this new opportunity to be at Lexington Christian Academy. It’s an exciting opportunity, I can’t wait.”
Palmer has also helped direct traffic with Lexington Christian Academy in the past, and thinks that familiarity with the school will help him in his new role.
“It’s a face they know, it’s a face that they’ve seen before so they’ll trust me if they have any issues, if they just want to talk to somebody,” Palmer said.
Lexington Christian Academy has had a part-time resource officer for some time now, but Wells recognized that the growing population of nearly 1,300 students across two campuses warranted further security.
“In our strategic plan, safety and security is always our priority,” Wells said. “We’re growing at LCA. We have two campuses that are bulging, thankfully, and so we just felt like it was the opportune time to add two full-time officers.”
