 At Appalachian Wireless, all smartphones are 50-100% off retail pricing for back-to-school. This includes all smartphones, so don't be tardy. Don't miss the bus. Get to Appalachian Wireless today. Two-year agreement required excludes outright purchase and advantage plans, while supplies last. For the first time in its history, the Jenkins Independent School District has a police officer on school grounds at all hours during the school day. Jenkins Police Officer Jim Stevens will be a fixture on Jenkins Independent School campuses this year. The veteran officer has been named as the new school resource officer for the school district. Stevens said he is happy to be patrolling the hallways and protecting the district's students. They all tell me they're glad I'm here, a lot of the students will say they appreciate us being here. I do a lot of cutting up with them because I've been here before, so we all know each other pretty well. The staff is excellent, I can't believe the amount of appreciation they show to you. It's really good being here. We've seen a lot of really good interactions and it's just nice having a law enforcement person here. It just makes everybody feel a little more comfortable, I think. Safety of the children is on everybody's mind with things going on and to be able to work with the school board and the superintendent to put a school resource officer in the schools full-time is a big plus for that. Stevens will go from Jenkins High School to Jenkins Elementary each day but will still be available for police work in the city. The district is providing funding through a grant for its resource officer. They finance most of the cost of the officer. We provide a vehicle fuel and training and a lot of things goes with it but we think that's a good investment for the safety of the children. We know that with him here our school is going to be that much safer and that's the most important thing, you know, school safety is our number one goal every day in every school district in America. Stevens said his new position has given him a new perspective on the district's schools. These teachers do a lot. People have no idea what these teachers do. The other thing that impresses me about our school district is the respect the teachers show to the students and vice versa. It's really something to see. People that think our youth are going down the drain, they need to come up to our schools and they'd see it, it's not that way at all. Reporting in Jenkins, Chris Anderson, EKB News.