Law enforcement from across several states came to Stuart last week for a basic school resource officer course.

The Stuart Police Department hosted the National Association of School Resource Officers to instruct the course at West Central Valley High School. The course is a 40 hour block of instruction designed for officers working in an educational environment and with school administrators. The course provides tools for officers to build positive relationships with both students and staff. It emphasizes three areas of instruction: function of law enforcement, mentoring students, and guest speaking.

According to the Stuart Police Department, the instructors stated that this was the largest class Iowa had ever hosted for the course, with 40 participants coming from all over Iowa, as well as Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Due to the size of registered participants, Stuart Chief Dave Reha and Officer Katie Guisinger received free seats in the course, which they both passed and are now certified to serve the West Central Valley School District.