Lawrence Schools Hire 3rd Class III Officer

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, NJ — A new Class III Officer joined the Lawrence Township Public School District this year. George A. Henderson Jr. is the third Class III Officer jointly hired by the district and the township to serve in the district, the district announced on Thursday. There is also a School Resource Officer at Lawrence High School.

“The safety of our children is our greatest responsibility, and we are dedicated to our students’ well-being,” Lawrence Superintendent of Schools Ross Kasun said. “We are pleased George has joined our SRO and other Class III officers as part of our intensified focus on safety and security for the benefit of our students and staff.”

Henderson will primarily cover the district’s four elementary schools. He is at Eldridge Park for a week, and he will subsequently spend a week at each of the other three elementary schools to become familiar with all.

Rick Doldy is the Class III Officer at Lawrence Middle School, and Mike Cseremsak is the Class III Officer at Lawrence Intermediate School. Suzanne Girard is the Student Resource Officer at Lawrence High School. Both Girard and Doldy started at their respective schools in September 2018, and Cseremsak started at the intermediate school in January 2019.

The district said it intends to hire an additional Class III Officer to also cover the elementary schools. The officers are in demand throughout New Jersey, and Lawrence has an ongoing search to fill the position.

Henderson has been in law enforcement for 25 years. He served four years in New Jersey as a Youth Worker and Youth Counselor in the Department of Juvenile Justice Commission. He then became a Sheriff in the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office for 21 years, until he retired in 2018.

Henderson served 23 years in the military, including 13 years in the United States Navy (four years active duty and nine years in the Naval Reserve) and 10 years in the New Jersey Army National Guard, retiring as a Staff Sergeant. Henderson is married and lives in Ewing. He has a son, a daughter, and a granddaughter.

Class III Officers are a new category of security within New Jersey as of 2018. They are armed, retired law enforcement officers who previously served as fully trained, full-time officers in New Jersey.

Class III Officers do not teach, discipline children, or investigate. School administrators are in charge of the building. Class III Officers are hired with the major focus of being a visible presence in the school and helping to keep students and staff safe from outside intruders.