Brandon Manzella

Taking on school. The new SRO, Lauren Weiss, takes a picture in the gym with the Eagles mascot. Officer Weiss has spent years following in her fathers footsteps. “Honestly [to gain from this experience], I just want to build connections and relationships and just be there for students as a guidance person or someone that you can come to, to help them through whatever they may be going through,” Weiss said.

Years of police academy, training in Chicago and applying to school is what Weiss went through to work as an SRO.

“I decided to take a leap of faith and become a school resource officer,” Weiss said. “I love being around kids and love interacting with people and so that’s why I really decided to [become an SRO].”

In previous years, Weiss was torn on where she wanted to take her career. After a year working as a Shelby Township Police Department Cadet, she was sent to the Police Academy for training. Ultimately she decided to become an SRO over a canine officer; her father helped make this decision.

“We [her and her father] always talked highly about being an SRO and how much he liked to do his job [as an SRO],” Weiss said.

When Weiss was younger, she’d visit her father and sit in on his court cases. According to Weiss, this sparked her interest in becoming a police officer and protecting citizens.

“I want her to make sure students feel comfortable,” principal Brandon Manzella said. “I want the students to feel comfortable so those students can go to her and actually seek out advice. The relationships she builds with our students and our community make Officer Weiss an absolute incredible asset to the building.”

At the beginning of the year in the Performing Arts Center, Weiss was introduced to students and welcomed to school. She quickly picked up relations with students and staff.

“[Describing her] is twofold, she’s been fantastic with the public relations between Shelby Township as well as with Eisenhower,” Manzella said. “She brings a lot to security behind the scenes.”

Her workload varies throughout the day but mostly consists of the same responsibilities. Behind the scenes she analyzes all of the security plans during meetings, checks school cameras on a regular basis, makes sure all doors are locked and walks around monitoring.

“The student’s here are great,” she said. “There’s quite a few who always say hello to me in the hallway. It’s exciting to see what they have planned in their future and what they want to do with their personalities. It’s a very fun atmosphere and I love the school.”