Amanda Marie Phipps cares for four children at home. At work, she cares for another 550, give or take. She loves what she does. Really loves it. Home or work.

She’s at work early on week-day mornings at Cedar Bluff Middle School on North Cedar Bluff Road. Phipps is a Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) deputy and the school’s School Resource Officer (SRO). She began this assignment in September 2025. In addition to the students, she’s also responsible for the school’s 60 teachers and administrators.

Phipps, 37, was born in Los Angeles and moved with her family to Waxhaw, North Carolina, near Charlotte, at age 14. After high school she tried nursing school but left and became a

Amanda Phipps

911 dispatcher for three years at Union County in North Carolina. That job led her to apply and join the Union County Sheriff’s Office and begin her law enforcement career. She was there seven years, working in the jail as a corrections officer and then moving to patrol.

“I took the 911 job at age 21, not fully understanding what I was signing up for. We were the lifelines from 911 to the officers and it was a lot of pressure,” Phipps remembers. “I have a great deal of respect for 911 dispatchers, but sometimes you feel helpless. You dispatch them and you’re disconnected from the call and that’s it. I started thinking and decided I wanted to be a deputy and be out there with them.”

After her years at North Carolina, she and her family relocated to Knoxville. Her first job here was 18 months of administrative work for the University of Tennessee Police Dept. She left the UTPD and in November 2023 joined the KCSO as a lateral transfer full-time officer. She requested an SRO position so she could work a schedule that allowed her to work and be a single parent.

Between them, Phipps and her fiancé, Cory Phillips, have four children. She has daughters who are 15 and 12 and his two are 13 and 10. Phillips is a deputy at the Blount County Sheriff’s Office. The are planning a March 2027 wedding. “Many people have always gotten my last name wrong and called me Amanda Phillips. So now I’ll really be a Phillips,” she said.

Before going to Cedar Bluff Middle she also worked SRO jobs at Adrian Burnett and Ritta elementary schools; a few months at Gibbs Middle and Gibbs Elementary; and then at East Knox Elementary and Corryton Elementary.

SRO’s carry a heavy load of responsibilities, and here is her list:

  • Traffic enforcement around the schools before, during and after school starts and ends.
  • Investigation of anything that occurs in or at the school that falls under a Tennessee Code Annotated criminal offense.
  • Assisting the Knox County Schools security officer with observing searches and interviewing students or staff.
  • Assessing crimes that occur in the immediate area of the schools to assist school administration in determining the need for lockdowns and at what level.

There’s more. “I also do additional things that I feel like involving myself in – hanging out with the kids at recess or lunch, walking the halls several times a day to make my presence known and to interact with the students on a level that doesn’t have to involve them being in trouble.”

Interestingly, there are two other schools nearby – Cedar Bluff Elementary and Cedar Bluff Pre-School. The elementary school has approximately 1,050 students plus staff and the pre-school has 200 plus staff. She communicates with their SROs in case something happens and they need help. Those three schools have a combined enrollment of almost 1,800 students and among them 24 different languages are spoken, she says.

“I know I’m in the right place here. I connect with the kids and their parents, and I want to be a role model and take away any fears the kids have about police officers. That’s a big part of my job,” Phipps explains.

There’s much more to interacting with the kids, she says. “You have to be human with these kids and show them respect, love and honesty. I’m here to help them and keep them safe. This age group of kids are learning and growing and experiencing new things in life. If I can help them make good choices I’m doing my job.”

So, the obvious question is: What do you enjoy the most about being an SRO?  “I really enjoy the difficult interactions and situations with the students. Those give me the opportunity to really make a difference, talking with them but really doing more listening. It’s not hard to get along with the kids who call for help. They want you there. They like hugs. It’s the kids who are unsure and nervous and I need to be the person who can change their opinions and help them.”

There can be days when she works while going to work. SROs are always on duty as a deputy everywhere. One week ago today she was on Cedar Bluff Road near her school when she saw a disoriented man stumbling around on a sidewalk. It was 7:05 a.m. She got him away from traffic and made sure he was safe. “I turned my lights on and got to him. He was impaired, lost, confused, and I began to talk with him and told him he was safe and got him home to his apartment and family across the street from the school.”

In addition to her SRO responsibilities and those for the kids, Phipps says she’s an “avid gardener. I grow lots of veggies – tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, corn, okra, banana peppers, sprouts and cucumbers and I use the pickles for my sauces and my own salsa.” She also cans some of her veggies, having just put up 20 pounds of okra.

The names of their dogs are “Papi” and “Fenway.” That’s a hint about their favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox (recently beaten by the New York Yankees in the playoffs). Fenway Park is the home of the Red Sox and Papi is named for a retired Boston great, “Big Papi” David Ortiz. “Cory’s a big fan and I was before I met him and we’ll be there watching next season for a game or two,” she says. Her other hobby is acrylic painting. And traveling. They’ll all be part of 10-day trip in May to England and France with a score of other family members.

Busy is her middle name. She also works a pair of weekend part-time security jobs for a church and a jewelry store. But there’s more. During high school football season the SROs also work security at the Friday night games.

And yes, there’s more. Three days last week she was teaching at the Knox County Regional Police Academy. Professor Phipps was teaching new law enforcement hires – she calls them “baby cops” – how to conduct field sobriety tests and conduct DUI investigations. Her students were from departments throughout East Tennessee. She loves teaching too.

Kinda wears one out trying to keep up with her!

Tom King is a weekly contributor to KnoxTNToday, where he writes the column Our Town Hero, honoring the service of our first responders. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom using the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.

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