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Butler County School Superintendent Joseph Eiland helped usher in the newest level of security to the Butler County school system.

Officer Ricky Meeks was appointed by Butler County Sheriff Danny Bond to the position of school resource officer beginning on Jan. 4 of this year.

“We are very appreciative to our community leaders for working together to put in place yet another level of safety at Georgiana and McKenzie Schools,” Eiland said.

Meeks is a retired Greenville Police Department officer with 28 years of experience in law enforcement.

He has worked on the S.W.A.T. team as a sniper as well as on the K-9 unit.

“I’m here in case of active shooters,” Meeks said. “I’m here to be seen and get to know the kids.”

Meeks was also an SRO at Greenville Middle School and Greenville Elementary School before taking this job.

In a statement Eiland said he wished to thank the collaborative work of Sheriff Danny Bond; Joey Peavy, the Chairman of the Butler County Commission; Commissioner Darryl Sanders; Greenville Police Chief Justin Lovvorn, and Representative Chris Sells.

“I’d also like to thank Lisa Adair. I appreciate her willingness to amend various budgets to satisfy the funds for SRO,” Eiland said. “She has a true passion for children.”

“The Butler County School System has entered into a one-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Butler County Sheriff’s department to fund a much needed SRO,” Eiland said.

Eiland also thanked Representative Chris Sells for making these additional funds available to Butler county.

Sells provided additional funds to go toward this school program.

Eiland is hopeful that during the upcoming legislative session, a new line-item for safety measures in schools will become a law and that additional funding will be made available to school systems across the entire state.

Principals Deedra Benson of Georgiana and Michael Collins of McKenzie are currently working with SRO Meeks to create a non-patterned schedule.