School District welcomes School Resource Officer

The Byron Community Unit School District Board of Education is pleased to introduce Ms. Emily Hardesty as the District’s new School Resource Officer, or SRO.
Hardesty will bring with her 13 years of successful law enforcement experience to the District.
School Board President, Christine Lynde, comments, “When Mr. Barton established the Safety Task Force to address community concerns regarding school safety, adding a SRO was identified as a top priority.  The Board of Education is looking forward to the positive impact on the learning environment that Officer Hardesty will provide for our students and staff.”
Hardesty grew up in DeKalb County, graduating from DeKalb High School in 2003.  After high school, she attended Kishwaukee Community College as a student-athlete, earning an Associate’s Degree in law enforcement.
Hardesty spent her first eleven years in law enforcement with the Rochelle Police Department before accepting a position with the Ogle County Sherriff’s Department.
For seven years of her career, she was a trained canine officer working to reduce the amount of drugs and other contraband within her community.
She also serves on the Ogle County Emergency Response Team (ERT), a team of local emergency responders called in for special, high-risk situations.  Hardesty is currently completing her school resource officer training and will begin her duties at the start of the school year.
“I am ecstatic about the opportunity to be the school resource officer for the Byron School District.  I am eager to begin working with the students and staff in any capacity they need,” stated Hardesty.
“We are excited to have Ms. Hardesty with the District,” stated school Superintendent Buster Barton.  “The Board of Education and district administrative team have worked very hard on improving the overall safety of our school community this past year.  This represents another step in that direction.”
For other safety-related actions the District has taken over the past school year, please see this link on School Safety.