Local officers to provide school resource officers in Hazard schools

Hazard schools are adding local school resource officers, bringing sworn law enforcement into the daily routine at campus doors, hallways and dismissal. For Perry County families, the change means school security will be handled by officers who are part of the building’s normal rhythm, not just the people called after a problem starts.

Kentucky law makes that role specific. KRS 158.441 defines a school resource officer as “a sworn law enforcement officer who has specialized training to work with youth at a school site,” and says the officer must be employed through a contract between a local law enforcement agency and a school district. That contract model gives Perry County Schools, led by superintendent Jonathan Jett at 315 Park Avenue in Hazard, a formal way to assign officers, coordinate schedules and set expectations for what happens when an incident unfolds on campus.

The day-to-day job goes beyond standing at a door. School resource officers are used as a regular contact for students and staff, to help de-escalate situations before they turn into emergencies and to link the school with outside public safety agencies. In Hazard, that coordination runs through local law enforcement names that are already familiar to residents, including Perry County Sheriff Joseph Engle and the Hazard Police Department, which is listed at 800 High Street in Hazard. The arrangement is also a funding and staffing decision, because it turns school policing into a contract-based post rather than an informal security presence.

The timing matters because Perry County schools have already dealt with threats that forced attention on security, including a November 2024 TikTok threat that law enforcement investigated in connection with Perry County Central High School and a separate case involving threatening calls using voice-over technology. Those incidents are part of the reason a visible officer on campus now carries practical weight for students, parents and staff moving through the school year.

The question of who staffs those posts has been under discussion in Perry County before. In December 2025, Perry County Schools planned to create its own police department to replace contracted school resource officers from the sheriff’s office, after years of using the Perry County Sheriff’s Office for that role. However the final staffing is arranged, the result inside Hazard schools is the same: a more formal, more visible law-enforcement presence built into the school day.