Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School.
The start of the school year was marked with many new things this year. One of the multiple new changes was the addition of new School Resource Officer Ken Wise.
After serving on the Shaler police force for eight years, the 2004 Shaler Area graduate has returned to the high school — this time as a resource officer replacing Office Frank Spiker who retired last year.
Reflecting on his time at the high school, Wise admits he was not the ideal student, though he found other ways to succeed in the classroom and in other social aspects of school.
“I think I graduated with, like, maybe a two-point something. But schooling never came easily to me. Making relationships did. I could go talk to anybody about anything and have fun with it. I could usually get them to smile,” he said.
One of those relationships formed with Brendan Boyle helped him come in contact with Brendan’s dad, a police officer, who influenced him to join the police academy.
“I would just sit there, and I would just rattle off questions to his dad. I love the stories he told. He told some sad ones and he told some great ones about how he got to help people all the time. And I’m like, ‘Dang, I’m like that. That might interest me.’ ”
However, before going into the police academy, Wise first went into the military. After his time, he decided to play college football at Seton Hill.
“I got a call from Seton Hill from the football coach who said, ‘Why don’t you come play?’ I think there were like 10 other guys from Shaler that I played with that were seniors. We all went up there, and I’m glad I did. I had fun.”
Throughout his time at college, Wise continued to talk with Mr. Boyle and landed an internship with the Shaler police that would start his career and teach him many important lessons.
“Read the room. You read behaviors, right? But I think that comes with age, too,” he said.
There are some situations that training didn’t prepare him for.
Wise started his time as an officer in Franklin Park. On one of his first nights on the job, Wise was stationed outside Ingomar Methodist Church for a Christmas Eve service. All was well until the siren on his police car activated, causing a little bit of a scene. He was in a unfamiliar, unmarked police car, and he couldn’t figure out how to turn the siren off so Wise had to improvise.
“So I drove down the road to the back of the church parking lot. I see a big snow mound. I just drive the front of the car into it. I didn’t wreck, but I’m thinking, it’s gonna muffle the siren,” he said.
Wise has come a long way since then and thinks he has found a perfect fit for him as Shaler Area’s school resource officer.
With his new station being the high school, his goals have changed. Being a police officer is still important, but a resource officer has bigger responsibilities involving the student body.
“You are a mentor, a social worker, a police officer — and a police officer comes last. Our goal is not to come into school and issue citations. Our goal is to come to this school to build rapport with the students,” he said.
Wise builds upon the goals of an SRO and goes beyond the usual range. He is focused on building connections with the students and to be there for them in any situation.
“We get to know them and just have that relationship with them if they need anything — school or home. We’re kind of the middleman between home and school.”
Adjusting to the new job came easily to Wise, especially since he has been in the school district before.
“There’s one thing I know. All the buildings. I’ve walked them. I’ve been in the same classrooms. You guys have the same stadium, the same sports, same everything, layouts, on all the different campuses.”
While the buildings are the same, that doesn’t mean that those in the school have stayed the same. Wise said the students have changed so much since he attended high school.
“There are so many good kids in this school. So many. But what shocks me, and I don’t know if it changed because I wasn’t in the position I was when I went here, but I feel like the amount of disrespect and people talking back wasn’t there when I went to school here.”
Wise, since his time in high school, has had many experiences and learned multiple lessons. Through it all, he is happy to be back in the district.
“I’m happy to be back in Shaler. I’m really happy to be in this position as an SRO and to be there for you guys and for the school faculty, everyone.”