It’s lunchtime at the Cumberland County Technical Education Center, and the cafeteria is full of students sitting around telling jokes and talking about the upcoming weekend. Standing to the side of the room, keeping a watchful eye on everything going on was the first of its kind team in the state: Steve Manera and K-9 Meadow.

Manera and Meadow are the first K-9 officer team in the state to work full-time and perform campus safety and security duties on a high school or college campus. The duo, which reports to the district and isn’t associated with a law enforcement department, will not only patrol CCTEC but nearby Cumberland County College. The move comes in the wake of active school shootings that have happened around the country. School districts have tried to find new ways to protect students. Dogs and their officers are one of those ideas.

CCTEC Superintendent Dina Rossi says she was approached by local K-9 trainer Joe Nick who came to her with the idea to train a canine for a school.

“He asked our permission — our Board of Education and myself — to see if that was an initiative that we wanted to do,” Rossi said. “ Our board, along with our administration here, is all about whatever we can do to add additional layers of safety.”

Rossi says the school and administration saw this as an opportunity to enhance the safety of the more than 800 students at the school.

“It has been a really quick process,” Rossi added. “Joe came to us in May, so it hasn’t even been a full year for Meadow and Officer Manera. The yes’s from the Board and Freeholders were all in place without hesitation. We were excited to be able to offer this to our school and our community.”

The next step was to find a handler for a dog. Manera said when the school asked him to join, he said he would love to participate — adding Meadow to his family, which already included a non-working dog.

“It’s hard having her adjust to my family,” Manera said. “Getting ready for work takes a little longer because getting her ready is almost like having a kid. That being said, it’s all worth it. Going to work with your best friend is awesome.”

The two patrol not only the cafeteria and the hallways, but they also stop to talk to teachers and students. Meadow is trained to detect guns and ammunition, as well as find out the location of an active shooter and attack, if released by Manera.

When visiting, it is apparent the students and faculty have accepted and embraced Meadow, with Meadow even giving one of the school employees a high-five when she saw the worker.

K-9 Meadow and her handler Steve Manera, Campus Safety Officer at Cumberland County Tec Center, receive their diploma during the Atlantic County K-9 Academy Graduation ceremony at ACIT in Mays Landing, Friday, March 8, 2019. Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

Unlike most strong-willed K-9 dog names, Manera and the school wanted to go a different route. They called Andrew Pollack. Pollack’s daughter, Meadow Jade Pollack, was killed in the Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14, 2018.

“To be honest with you, when I heard they were going to name a dog after my daughter, I thought it was kind of nuts,” Pollack said. “But, after thinking about it and what my daughter would want, she would want the schools safer and the teachers safer. At the end of the day, that’s what it is about. My daughter would have been all for it.”

Pollack is now an advocate for school safety and believes the dog being at a school is going to be enough of a from a school shooting at the school. He also believes the dogs will not have any hesitation to enter any dangerous situation.

“I would want people to know that there was a lot of people that failed my daughter that day that hid,” the father said. “With the right training, these dogs don’t hide. I’ve had friends in the military that these dogs saved their lives. Police departments have these dogs that save their lives. They have no fear. They are trained in a job, and they are going to get it done, and they’re not going to cower like what can happen with a human. When push comes to shove, you don’t know what a human is going to do. With these dogs, there’s no question of what they are going to do when the time comes.”

K-9 Meadow and her handler Steve Manera, Campus Safety Officer at Cumberland County Tec Center, enter the stage to receive their diploma during the Atlantic County K-9 Academy Graduation ceremony at Atlantic County Institute of Technology in Mays Landing, Friday, March 8, 2019. Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media

Later on Friday, in the dimly lit auditorium inside the Atlantic County Institute of Technology, Manera walked across the stage with Meadow toward Pollock, Rossi, and the other dignitaries and received his plaque. The two had officially graduated the Atlantic County John Sonny Burke K-9 Academy. They may have taken different roads here, some whose road was painful, but all involved hope the program started, implemented and put in action in Cumberland County will be one that will serve as a successful model for others in the state.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us.nj.com/tips