The Fred Method Vol. 1: Officer Jim

“I just care about them.”

They’re five simple words, but for the students at one elementary school, they’re also a sign that someone is on their side.

In this case, that “someone” is Officer Jim, the school resource officer at Broad Street Elementary, where one of the most coveted rewards for students is earning a chance to have lunch with him, play basketball with him, or take home one of his custom-drawn cartoons.

Welcome to Butler, Pennsylvania: home of Officer Jim’s “Fred Method.”

“The fist-bump officer”

Donning a plaid shirt and khaki pants while doling out his famous fist bumps, you might assume that Officer Jim – a retired police officer – is a parent volunteer. 

But make no mistake: he knows his first job is to protect. In fact, when we sat down to chat with him, he asked to make sure his seat was positioned so he could still see the door.

“A lot of the kids around here don’t have really good relationships with the police,” he explains, “and I want them to feel like they can come to me with anything they want to talk about. If they’re happy, I want to hear about it. If they’re having a bad day, I want to hear about it. If something’s happening that shouldn’t be happening, I need to know about it.”

He pauses.

“I just care about them,” he says.

A positive influence

Officer Jim – whose real name is Jim Green – started at Broad Street in 2021, and it didn’t take long for him to start sparking positivity.

During his first few months on the job, he noticed there was a sign outside about drop-off times that wasn’t serving much of a purpose. So, he decided to instead start writing messages on it for the kids.
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“I’d write something like ‘Taco-bout having a great Tuesday,’ and I’d draw a little taco on it,” he says, laughing. As Broad Street’s students clamored for more drawings, Officer Jim’s cartoon creations became a staple in the school. He even set up an easel at the school’s entrance.

Today, Officer Jim takes custom drawing requests from students – requests that can (and do) fill an entire box. He pulls one request a day and draws it, hanging the finished product in the traffic-heavy hallway outside of the school library. Kids come to look throughout the day, and when the final bell rings, Officer Jim rolls the drawing up and sends it home with the student who requested it.

It’s a simple gift that put us in mind of Fred Rogers himself: “If you like to make things out of wood, or sew, or dance, or style people's hair, or dream up stories and act them out, or play the trumpet, or jump rope, or whatever you really love to do,” Fred said — “and you love that in front of your children, that's going to be a far more important gift than anything you could ever give them wrapped up in a box with ribbons.”

Display the Memories

There’s another display just behind Officer Jim’s makeshift art studio: a wall with hundreds of 4x6 pictures of Broad Street’s students, faculty, and staff. It’s impressive to look at, but even more so when you know the intention behind it.

With the cost of yearbooks beyond many families’ finances, “I started taking pictures, printing them out, and hanging them here to document the memories,” says Officer Jim.

There are pictures of prized bicycles and new haircuts. There are holiday celebrations, group photos on the playground, and kids having fun in the hallways. But perhaps the best thing we saw was the group of students who came by and looked at the pictures with us, excited to point out the pictures in which they saw themselves.

A Penny For Your Thoughtfulness

Not long ago, Officer Jim hatched an idea for a school-wide “penny drive” to raise funds for the local Humane Society, since so many of Broad Street’s students love animals.

He explained that while many in the area are on the receiving end of financial help, all students deserve opportunities to give. So, Officer Jim invited kids to bring in as many pennies as they liked; there was no competition or bonus points for bringing in more money. The point was simply to spread the “good feeling” that comes with giving back.

As Fred himself once said, “All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we're giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. 

That's one of the things that connects us as neighbors – in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver."

Do you know someone whose “Fred Method” ought to be shared? Let us know in the comments!

​“The Fred Method” is brought to you by Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski, authors of “When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids.”

This volume was written by Brea Schmidt, the writer and photographer behind The Thinking Branch. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn!