The Camas School District has added another school resource officer, Brent Mayhugh, this year to work alongside current SRO Jason Langman.
“There’s two school resource officers with Camas now. There’s myself, they (CSD) added me, and then Officer Langman, who’s been here the last couple of years,” Mayhugh said.
This is Mayhugh’s first job as an SRO, but since the majority of students are learning remotely his job is much different than what Langman had been doing in recent years.
He said, “He was super busy going here doing this, going there doing that. Now that we have two, the way Covid is right now, we’re not doing a lot of investigation stuff. I really only have done some Zoom bombing stuff that had happened earlier on.”
Since there has not been much to do on the investigation side of things, Mayhugh has found himself spending a lot of time with the students who are on campus.
He said, “Really I’m just walking in and saying hello, if you haven’t me I’m Brent Mayhugh, I’m the new school resource officer here. That’s kind of what I’ve done here at CHS.”
Mayhugh has also been making his way around to the elementary and middle schools.
“Going to the elementary and middle schools I’m just popping in to the kindergarteners because most of them are in class right now. I just pop in to say hello to them and the teacher will introduce me. That’s really all I’m doing right now, just seeing a lot of kids,” he said.
He has also been invited to classes being held over Zoom.
Mayhugh said, “Teachers will reach out to me and say hey can you read to my class on Zoom at this date and this time. I’ll go and they’ll pick a book out and I’ll read a book to the kids.”
A place that he spends quite a bit of time is the Jack, Will, and Rob Center. There are kids there every day so Mayhugh is going there to spend time with them.
“At JWR there are kids there every day. On Wednesdays, they get out at noon and they like me to come to recess with them and play their computer games with them. They have this big lab. I’ll go do that with them and hang out. They’ll be eating lunch and I’ll just be talking to them. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing,” he said.
At CHS, Mayhugh compared the classrooms to a library.
He said, “I’ll walk into a classroom and everyone’s just on their computer, whether they’re in a Zoom class and got their headphones on, it’s like walking into a library. It’s just completely silent and no one’s talking, there’s no teachers talking really, it’s different. It’s kind of hard to get used to, and I feel bad for some of the students who have to do that, but that’s what they’re being told to do or maybe that’s what they need.”
Even though his responsibilities as an SRO have shifted dramatically due to remote learning, Mayhugh is enjoying the time he gets to spend with the students who are on campus. He looks forward to seeing more students on campus and future “normal” days at school.