LE MARS — A semester long class on criminal justice that has been offered at Le Mars Community High School as an online class through Western Iowa Tech will have a new look in the 2022-23 school year.
LCHS Principal Dr. Mark Iverson told school board members in an update on registration for the next school year that a good number of students were signing up for the class as School Resource Officer Jon Vickery would be teaching the class.
Iverson said in talking with Le Mars Police Chief Kevin Vande Vegte and Vickery about the number of students taking the online class, Vande Vegte and Vickery expressed interest in getting Vickery more involved with the students and forming relationships.
"So we thought that would be a great avenue to go with teaching the class with our students and opening up those avenues to build those relationships," Iverson said.
Vande Vegte noted, "We were looking for some other avenues to get the youth involved in law enforcement and maybe just to utilize the School Resource Officer a little differently.
"Jon has been asked to come into classrooms and speak for the period or give updates on certain topics, so we thought why don't we just expand on that a little bit and see if there is an interest by the individuals going into the criminal justice field,” Vande Vegte added.
"We're going to try it the first year early in the morning, the first hour of school. When we had our registration, we had 40 kids interested in the class. Obviously we can't put 40 kids in one class so we are going to limit it to 25 this first year, but then we may take it to both semesters the following year," he said. “There is definitely an interest in that course and kids looking at that career option,” Iverson said.
"Since it's a dual credit class, we will have to teach what Western Iowa Tech teaches in their criminal justice classes down there, so we will get the curriculum from WIT. They will provide the textbook to Officer Vickery and the students will have online textbooks for that class," Iverson said.
He said he was surprised at the number of students who requested the class.
"I didn't know how many kids would actually sign up for the class, but 40, I was like 'wow,'" Iverson said. "Part of it is Officer Vickery. I think the kids really like him and enjoy him, and part of it is they want to take a class with him and get to know him better. Also, we have quite a few kids that are interested in becoming an officer or a game warden, along those lines."
He continued that interest came from all over.
"I wouldn't say that one grade level dominated the other one. I think we had kids throughout all four grade levels that wanted to take this course," Iverson said.
Because of the large number, seniors will have priority, followed by juniors, sophomores and freshmen.
The class will be offered during the second semester.
Vande Vegte pointed out one of the advantages of taking the class is the students will be getting a free course offered by the school, one they would not be required to take once they got into a university, saving them some money on the college credit.
"We're going to teach the same core that they teach online, so it will be the same outline or syllabus, but we're going to expand on it. We're going to do hands-on things.
"So whereas online you really can't do a crime scene search, you can't utilize our simulation machine, you can't investigate an accident, we're going to actually expand the program to do hands-on stuff that will make it not only more interesting, but I think they're going to get more out of the course by doing it that way," he said.
Vickery will be the primary instructor, with Vande Vegte and Assistant Police Chief Justin Daale as secondary instructors.
"The first year we're just going to offer the one class, which will be Introduction to Criminal Justice. I believe we might be able to expand that to Juvenile Law the following year, but we're just going to take one year at a time," Vande Vegte said.
Vande Vegte said it was good to see that much interest in the class.
"We didn't know if it was going to go over at all. We thought we may get five kids signed up, and just do it with five, but when we found out 40 were interested I guess it kind of shocked us a little bit," Vande Vegte said.
Vickery said he, too, was surprised at the number of students interested in taking the class.
"We weren't quite sure what to expect, way class numbers were going, and what we were going to do if there weren't enough, so I was actually very surprised, and very happy, about the interest in the course itself," Vickery said.
"For me, bringing the course in, I feel like it is going to be a little more personal than doing it online. We do things online and that's great, but you don't quite get the personal touch as far as experiences, not a lot of time to ask questions or expand on conversations, so I am hoping with the in-person class that we are going to offer here it will give kids more of a hands-on feel for it, have the ability to ask questions a little bit easier, and extend their knowledge.
"We kind of give them a little bit of a taste of law enforcement, letting them see if it's something they want to go into, and the ability to expand their knowledge by being able to ask questions easier," Vickery said.
This is the third year Vickery has been in the schools in Le Mars as the School Resource Officer.
He said he will have a second three-year stint as Vande Vegte recently announced he had received funding for the position for another three years.
Vickery sees his presence in the schools as a positive thing, as students know him and sometimes just want to sit and talk with him.
"I'd like to think I'm building good relationships with the kids," Vickery said.
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