BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana’s new school safety director on Tuesday said collaboration will be key to making the state’s schools safer.

In a brief ceremony at Hornet Park Elementary School in Beech Grove, Gov. Mike Braun announced Julie Smith will lead the new Office of School Safety.

Smith is a 20-year veteran of the Columbus Police Department and is the president of the Indiana School Resource Officers Association. She is a nationally certified instructor of school resource officers.

State lawmakers created the Office of School Safety in the spring at Braun’s request.

Smith said collaboration will be key, particularly during her first year in office. She said she and her team will meet with schools to go over their safety measures and develop best practices. Smith said she also will ask school corporations what needs they have and how her office can help.

“Indiana’s done a lot of things right historically when it comes to school safety,” she said. “I think if we ever get to a point where we say we know it all and we’ve done it all right, that’s a real dangerous thing. With this office, we’re going to log face time and get in the hallways with administrators and students and communities to make sure that they have the tools that they need to keep their schools as safe as possible.”

Beech Grove City Schools Superintendent Laura Hammack said she’s thrilled the office’s new director has extensive experience as a school resource officer. She said having one place for schools to learn from each other will be a big help.

“It is deeply important to us to always have the best practices being deployed in our school districts and if there’s new information, new content that we need to be aware of, having someone who is in that space that allows for us to be delivering on the front lines, it just means the world to us,” she said.

Braun said he will work with Smith to determine what further actions, if any, need to come from his office in the form of executive orders, as well as what further actions state lawmakers might need to take.

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