Granada named SRO administrator of the year

June 29, 2011|By Jonathan Kleppinger | jkleppinger@jessaminejournal.com

Photo by Jonathan Kleppinger

After a hip replacement sidelined her for weeks, East Jessamine High principal Janet Granada had been back at work for three days when school resource officer Billy King surprised her with a question.

“He said, ‘Is it OK with you that I nominate you for SRO administrator of the year?’” Granada said. “And I said, ‘That’s fine.’ He said, ‘Good, because you won.’”

Granada, who has served as principal for eight years, received the 2010-2011 Administrator of the Year award from the Kentucky Association of School Resource Officers. SRO programs station police officers in schools.

“I just felt that she was very deserving of it,” said King, a Nicholasville police officer. “She works very, very hard all the time to try to accomplish everything that she can for the students of East High. She basically seems to live her life around the students that go to school there.”

In addition to King’s nomination, Granada received letters of support from Superintendent Lu Young, assistant principal Tracy Devney and role models from the D.A.R.E. program at East High.

Granada said the award from the SRO organization was very meaningful to her.

“It’s really an honor to be nominated by a group that I think are heroes,” she said.

Both Granada and King have been at the school for all four years of the SRO program’s existence in Jessamine County. King said the award reflects Granada’s dedication to the program.

“We have to work extremely closely together to make this program work, and without the understanding that we have of each other’s roles, it would be very difficult for our program to be a success,” he said. “Ms. Granada has always been very supportive of the SRO program and tries to do everything she can to make sure that things keep going as they have been.”

Granada said that King had become “part of the family” at East and that he was chiefly responsible for the SRO program’s success.

“He just has the perfect personality to be a friend to kid and a mentor to kids and still they know that he has a job to do and he does it very well. It just makes the kids feel safe,” she said. “... It’s been an amazing experience for all of us, and the credit goes to Billy.”

The school resource officer said he looks forward to continuing to work with Granada.

“She’s a wonderful lady. We all love her and respect her dearly,” he said. “I hope that she has many, many more years to give us at East High.”

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