After a drawn out battle over his 2018 budget and denied requests for more staffing, Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson went before the board of commissioners last week with a request for three additional school resource officers. “In light of the recent school shootings...on March 8 the school system had a public safety event, or basically a school safety event, inquiring or asking, soliciting ideas, thoughts on how we can improve our school safety,” Johnson said. “Even prior to that, after...the mass shooting in Florida, we met with (Superintendent Damon Gibbs) on how we could improve safety in our schools. The general consensus...is they do desire additional school resource officers on staff. We support that.” The school board is willing to fund 50 percent of the cost of two of those positions, Johnson said, as well as for traffic direction when school is starting and when it is let out.