MARS HILL - A law enforcement officer was praised by a local mother for his work in building trust among the students he previously worked with at Mars Hill Elementary School.
In a number of Madison County Board of Commissioners meetings throughout 2026, Mars Hill resident Mary Gibson has expressed concerns about the Madison County Sheriff's Office's use of automated license plate readers.
But in the commissioners' Oct. 13 meeting, Gibson appeared before the board instead to spotlight Madison County Sheriff's Office Deputy Robert Metcalf's commitment to service and community.
Gibson said her 9-year-old son, a Mars Hill Elementary School student, was disciplined and sent to the principal's office in September, his first time being in trouble to that
extent.
According to Gibson, when her son got to the principal's office, he couldn't muster the ability to tell Principal Jennifer Mills what had happened.
"She graciously offered to allow him to call someone who he felt like he could tell it to. He lives in a house with four generations of people, and had plenty of options for that call," Gibson told the commissioners.
She was surprised by who he decided to call instead.
"Rather than reaching out to anyone in his house, or any of the other many great adults in his life, he asked to call Officer Metcalf. I called him 'Officer Metcalf' because that's what the kids call him," Gibson said.
Metcalf works at the Madison County Courthouse after serving five years as the school resource officer at Mars Hill Elementary School.
"He stopped what he was doing to take that call from my son. He calmed him down, he empathized with him, and he helped him figure out how to make things right with his teacher, and how to take accountability for what had happened and prevent it from happening again," Gibson said, fighting back tears at the podium in Marshall Oct. 13.
"It generally shakes out to something like, 'Honor and obey.' But the kind of respect that it means when you trust someone as your one call when you've messed up the worst that you ever have, is not a respect that I can command in him. It is a respect that is earned by someone who has shown up for him in both small and large ways every day and has recognized him as a person and understood him to the point that when he was scared and had done something wrong and knew it, the person he wanted to talk to was Officer Metcalf."
For Metcalf, he treated each child as if they were his own, he said.
"They all — past and present students — know I'm always there for them," Metcalf told The News-Record Oct. 19.
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 'Treat the kids like they're my own': Madison County cop recognized
