To the Editor:

[On May 13] there will be a ceremony at our nation’s capital honoring fallen police officers, one of which will be our own Stephen A. Ketchum, who died in 2016 of the long term health consequences of his ground zero work in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. I wanted to take a moment to share my own honorary memory of Officer Ketchum as Newtown High School’s School Resource Officer, a role in which he served from 2003 to 2006.

At NHS Officer Ketchum was highly respected by both staff and students. I had the opportunity to get to know him a little better when he volunteered to chaperone our NHS trip to the presidential inauguration in January of 2005. Not having done an inauguration trip before, it was of great reassurance to staff, students, and parents, to have him along.

I had the coolest conversation with him on the bus regarding my recollections as a teen here in the 1970s of certain Newtown PD officers (like himself) making an extra effort to invest in good, solid, and respectful relationships with our teens, despite it being a seemingly thankless endeavor. It was so cool that he either knew them, or knew of them, and was able to share a bit more about them and whatever became of them.

So, on this occasion, in addition to honoring Officer Ketchum, I would like to encourage Newtown’s residents to give a special shout out to the Newtown PD and their school resource officers, not only for their work through the years, but also for working so hard now to keep our Newtown youth safe under these odd and unusual COVID circumstances, just in case they were feeling under appreciated.

Randi Allen Kiely

70 Mount Pleasant Road, Newtown May 13, 2020