SRO’s Return in Virginia

Do police officers belong in schools? Lot of opinions out there and some decisions were made over the summer to ditch SRO programs - opportunity to bring officers in under the banner of School Resource Officer. What school administrators are used to, and what protestors clamor for may be two different things.

If you have not heard, some school districts that said no to bringing back School Resource Officers have done a complete turnaround. The lastest is the Alexandria, Virginia, school board, struggling with how to manage trouble that has already surfaced in school.

In May of 2021, the Alexandria City Council voted to remove school resource officers and use the $800,000 budgeted to instead hire mental health professionals. But, after a series of videos surfaced showing violent schoolyard brawls, some community members worried that getting rid of SROs was the wrong decision. Here’s the full story.

They aren’t the first and not likely the past. The same thing happened last week in Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Read about it here.