Parker: “… it’s all about being
an example …”
KINGSTON – The new director of safety and protection in the Kingston City School District is a familiar face in the community. LeShawn Parker has been a security officer at Kingston High School for over 11 years.
A longtime Kingston resident, Parker is a 1989 graduate of Kingston High School and has two teenage children enrolled in the district. His wife, Yvonne, teaches math at Kingston High School.
His mission to keep the high school safe and secure is both personal and professional.
Parker began his career working with children as a youth aide at the Brookwood Secure Center, a maximum security youth facility in Claverack. His work centered not just on keeping youth safe, but offering therapeutic crisis interventions for teens who were convicted sex offenders, drug dealers, and convicted of crimes like assault and murder. Some of the youths at the center were already facing life in prison, and would be relocated to an adult prison on their 18th birthday.
Parker said, though, that he tried to base his relationships with the youth on the positive things they had done.
He said he is up to the challenge of providing the security at the high school.
“We can’t be afraid to explain the ‘why’ behind the rules,” Parker said. “For me, it’s all about being an example, and an open book.”
