Michael Hopton, right, chats with Ponaganset High School seniors Seth Keighley and Ariana Lasorsa during their lunch.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

GLOCESTER — The lunchroom at Ponaganset High School hums with activity as students shuffle through the cafeteria line, munch on sandwiches, and carry on with friends seated at the long, mess hall-style tables.

Officer Michael Hopton, wearing a polo shirt and carrying a holstered pistol, takes a spot near an entrance, his bright, eager eyes scanning the room as he says some quick hellos. Most days, for about an hour and a half, he’s here, watching over and chatting up students.

It’s an important part of the job, he explains, to let students see that he’s a part of the school community and not just a uniform on his beat. The school’s first resource officer, Hopton has been at the school just shy of a month, so he has some names down.

“It was tough the first day. I thought I’d know more kids,” said Hopton, a four-year member of the Glocester Police force and a 10-year resident.

By now, the students have mostly adjusted to his presence, and there are some brief pleasantries as he stands post at the lunchroom or winds through the hallways. He’s also received praise from the grateful faculty.

“He’s had a positive impact on the tone of the school and the overall respect of everyone,” says Principal Dennis Kafalas. “He’s integrated himself into the school right from day one.”

The introduction of an on-duty police officer is a welcome addition at the school, which for many years was an open campus with most entrances unlocked and students free to move in and around the school grounds without much oversight, explains Kafalas.

It was next to impossible to determine who was missing or who didn’t belong on the grounds, he says. And when a situation rose to the level of requiring police intervention, there was no way that the police could quickly respond, given the remoteness of the school.

So one of the administration’s newest priorities has been refocusing school policy around campus safety and security, and part of that plan was doing away with the open-door policy. Now there is one main entrance, and visitors first need clearance to be in the building from someone in the school’s administrative offices.

The other major part was advocating to the towns of Foster and Glocester to fund the salary of a police officer at the school. Last year, each town budgeted the costs of an officer, with Glocester, the larger town, paying about two-thirds of the bill.

Hopton, 46, comes to the high school after serving over 20 years in the Smithfield Police Department, where he retired in 2004 after rising to the rank of captain in charge of the detectives division.

Hopton, who has a law degree from Roger Williams University and is a member of the state Bar Association, went into private law practice after leaving Smithfield. But he says he lasted just under six months as a defense attorney before he got the itch to reenter law enforcement.

“I just didn’t find it fulfilling,” said Hopton, who also holds a master’s degree from Salve Regina University.

He joined the Glocester Police Department later that year as a reserve officer before becoming a member of the rank and file as a patrolman.

Coming in at the bottom of the department hierarchy, Hopton was assigned to the third shift –– midnight to 8 a.m. –– and was “hating every minute of it,” he says.

So when word came last year of the department working with the Foster Police Department to station an officer at the high school, Hopton jumped at the chance.

“I liked the challenge of being the first [officer] here and making the program work,” he says.

Hopton says his experience raising his children –– a 21-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter — as well as being coach of the boy’s cross-country team and assistant coach of the girl’s varsity softball team at Mount St. Charles Academy (the Woonsocket parochial school that his children attended) gave him skills to deal with students in the high school environment.

“The idea is to weave myself into the fabric of the community,” he explains. “I don’t want to be looked at so much as a police officer at the school, but as another administrative position, one that is working as an advocate for them.”

Since he reported for work that first week in September, Hopton has taken to introducing himself individually to the various social groups in the school; from the faculty to the athletes to the students he meets in the hallways between classes. He’s explained his role to students during the morning homeroom period as well.

“It’s all about finding a way to talk to them, to show them I’m just another person on the staff that cares about what they’re doing,” he says.

The resource officer is generally charged with overseeing the security at the school. Armed with all the effects –– the handcuffs, sidearm, baton and pepper spray –– of a regular officer, Hopton is on duty five days a week, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

He has an office in what was until last year the former middle school (now referred to as the north building). It is an administrative suite, with a conference room for the special-education staff just outside his door.

Up to this point, Hopton says he has not made an arrest, though Kafalas, the principal, says there have already been a few situations that he has “diffused” simply by his intervention. “He really has a calm demeanor that works well with kids,” Kafalas says.

Typically, Hopton starts his day at the school overseeing the bus arrivals. Until the lunch hours, beginning at about 10:45 a.m. under the current schedule, he’s either roaming the hallways or in his office, where he takes visits from students and staff alike.

Hopton is also responsible for making sure that doors (besides the main entrance) remain locked and he takes regular tours of the school’s sizable grounds. Toward the end of the day, after supervising dismissal, Hopton writes up a report of his day’s work, which goes to the chief of police.

Kafalas says that Hopton’s role is even more important this year as the high school goes through its largest expansion since its construction.

Many parts of the school are closed off while workers complete the build out. Classes are expected to be shifted around during the course of the year as the work progresses, creating the potential for a harried school environment.

The district is nearly doubling the footprint of the school by connecting it with the former middle school, located next door. The work, which began at the end of last school year, is expected to be completed by next summer.

Hopton works closely with assistant principal Cheri Yanku, who says her job has become “so much easier” with Hopton around.

“You need the right mix in a school resource officer,” she says. “If you treat students with respect, they show respect back.”

pmarcelo@projo.com