As the end of an era with Officer Richard Spandle comes to an end at BVNW, the new SRO, Rachel Scattergood comes to take his place. Scattergood takes over after stints at Pleasant Ridge Middle School as well as Blue Valley middle school as an SRO for both. This is her first high school SRO position. Having been a SRO for about a year and a half, she’s excited for a new beginning at Blue Valley Northwest.

“I’m looking forward to actually being a little bit busier and having more to do,” Scattergood said. “I’m probably not going to have quite the same issues that I had at my other schools.”

Although she’s only worked at BVNW for one day, she’s made a lot of connections with the student body. With 1600 students, Scattergood said she was surprised by how many approached her to introduce themselves.

“Everybody’s been very nice and friendly,” Scattergood said. “It’s encouraging that at the high school level they’re still open to that.”

The legacy that Officer Spandle left on Blue Valley Northwest was that of positivity, according to BVNW SRO, Anthony Garcia. With Spandle leaving, Garcia said he is going to do his best to carry on the positivity Spandle left.

“I think spandle’s legacy is just the climate he created in the building and even though he’s gone, everybody still remembers him, and it’s positive,” Garcia said. “I’m gonna do my best to fill in the gaps.”

Even though Scattergood has big shoes to fill with replacing Officer Spandle, Garcia said he expects Scattergood will be just fine.

“I have no doubt that she’s going to weave directly into to BVNW fabric,” Garcia said. “It’s just going to take some time. I just ask that people be patient.”

Although the task of filling the shoes of officer spandle may seem daunting, Scattergood said that she will do her best for the student body.

“It’s kind of scary, but I’m going to try to be me and not try to be him and hopefully that will work out for the best,” Scattergood said.

With Scattergood coming in, Principal Amy Pressly said it will be good to have a female officer in the building.

“It’s been a while since we have had a female, and so I think that will be good,” Pressly said. “She’s young, and I’ve heard positive things about her connections with kids.”

Looking forward to a new year, Scattergood encourages students to come up to her and said it’s easy to start a conversation.

“It’s very easy to start a conversation with me, just say the word dog and I’ll start talking,” Scattergood said.