After four years of service at Prospect High School, School Resource Officer (SRO) Lisa Schaps will be returning back to patrol duty for the Mount Prospect Police Department. Currently, she’s training officer Tyler Johnson as a part of the three week period, which started on Oct. 17 and will end on Nov. 3. Schaps’ last day in the building will be Nov. 3, and on Nov. 5 Johnson will fully take over the position of SRO at Prospect. 

In her time at Prospect, Schaps has made many contributions to the school such as giving tours of the building to Mount Prospect first responders, creating both Teen Police Academy and First Responder Academy, presenting to health classes during the drug and alcohol unit, co-sponsoring Knights for Consent and much more.

Although Schaps has accomplished a lot at Prospect, she stated that she felt most proud about showing the Mount Prospect Police and Fire Departments around the school. She said that they only have access to certain doors, so she decided that first responders must know where to enter the building; she gave the entire department a tour in the summer of 2019, as well as introducing Prospect staff to them. 

Physical education teacher Krystina Mackowiak appreciates the diligence that Schaps has when doing her job.

“I think it shows that she’s here for the right reasons and that she is thriving off being able to help students, and I think that when she came to my health classes she really commanded the room … ” Mackowiak said. “You can tell there was a lot of mutual respect between her and the students and that she’s really there to educate them and help them as a cop but also as just a resource going forward.”

To add to that, Schaps takes a lot of pride in her creation of Teen Police Academy, which aims for immersing younger students in the role of a police officer. Since interest in being a police officer has been on a sharp decline, she feels strongly about turning that narrative around by showing high schoolers what it’s all about.

“It’s basically like giving you a snapshot of what it would be to be a police officer, in hopes that you understand the police better,” Schaps said. “Or for here, I was really looking at it more as a recruitment like maybe it would inspire them to be police officers.”

Another club that Schaps helped bring to the table at Prospect was Knights for Consent. The club’s goal is to bring awareness to sexual consent and to assault, according to a past interview with physical education teacher Carrie Black. The club was formed during the 2021-2022 school year after reports of sexual assault at Prospect’s 2021 homecoming dance. 

According to Black, Schaps played an important role in making the girls’ voices heard and making sure the club was created.

“She gave a lot of insight about what consent really is and what sexual assault really is,” Black said. “She was like a sounding board for kids that wanted to start the club and gave them a lot of guidance.”

According to Black, Schaps’ personality makes it easy to talk to approach her.

“I feel like she’s given everybody a comfortable ear to listen [to],” Black said. “She’s always there and she’ll make time for any kid to talk to [her].”

One of the values that Schaps strives for is making genuine relationships with everyone. Most notably, she hopes that students can “feel more comfortable with law enforcement” and that she can represent police officers in a positive light.

Overall, Black and Mackowiak believe that Schaps has been extremely beneficial for staff and students alike. For administrators especially, Black noticed how helpful she was to talk to about certain scenarios.

“I think that our administrators really tapped into her knowledge a lot this year and in all her years, because she … can predict problems or possible situations,” Black said. “ … She was able to help administrators prepare for those situations.”

Mackowiak explained how it feels to have a staff member like Schaps around.

“I think it just eases our mind, when we know there’s somebody who cares so much and is going above and beyond and making sure we all know those things are in place …” Mackowiak said.

With Schaps leaving the SRO position in just over a week, both Mackowiak and Black stated that they’ll be sad to see her go. Nearing the end of a chapter in her life, Schaps said that being an SRO proved to be a “stepping stone” for her career; she’ll be promoted to Sergeant of the MPPD this spring, as a result of the leadership skills she gained at Prospect. 

Schaps expressed gratitude for being able to work as a police officer with high school students 

“Being here was my career goal,” Schaps said.  “… Prior to being a police officer I really wanted to be a teacher. So for me, it was kind of the best of both worlds. I got to work with teenagers and I also got to be a police officer … this was just always like my dream to work in a school and I feel like I accomplished it.”