Fights at the McDonald’s at Bradlee Shopping Center. Fights in the cafeteria. And this week, a gun confiscated from a student.
Escalating violence at Alexandria City High School pushed Superintendent Dr. Gregory Hutchings, Jr .to issue a public plea to reinstate School Resource Officers (SROs) in the school system.
"I'm pleading with our city council this evening that we reinstate our school resource officers immediately. … We cannot wait for extended conversations about this matter as this situation has really escalated, and I'm not talking about the fights I'm talking about things that school staff are not equipped to deal with such as the incident [Wednesday],” Hutchings said.
The school system does have its own security force — unarmed safety patrols — who are trained in de-escalation techniques and peaceful resolution processes.
Many parents and students in the community support having removed armed officers from the school buildings, which is part of a national movement for police-free schools. Several have argued that even an armed officer at school would not have been able to stop some of the incidents from occurring.
But there are increasing calls from parents to reinstate SROs, at least until the proposed alternative support systems are up and running.
City officials are in the process of hiring other staff remembers to support student and family mental health and safety, but hiring has been a slow process. The past 18 months since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived have been difficult for students ACHS Executive Principal Peter Balas wrote in an email to parents that students are “feeling the impact of trauma.”
“For teenagers who are still developing coping skills, the effects of trauma can manifest in behaviors that are oppositional and even impulsive. Trauma can also manifest as distrust, withdrawal and difficulty paying attention. Relationships are the bedroom for a thriving school community and this year, more than ever, it will take time, perseverance and commitment from each one of us to re-establish relationships with our students so that ever Titan gets the care and support they need to get along with others and eventually thrive in our school community.”
SROs were removed from the schools in a budget add/delete session just before the city’s overall budget passed back in May. Four council members — Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Canek Aguirre, John Taylor Chapman and Mo Seifeldein — voted to move the nearly $800,000 that paid for the program into contingent reserve, effectively ending the program.
Mayor Justin Wilson has said, repeatedly, that those four city council members who voted to defund the police program are now not willing to vote in favor of putting funding behind the program again.
Public schools officials and the city’s police department are working together and police officers are ready to respond to any incident at the school. Police are routinely outside the school in the mornings and afternoons, and security has increased at the nearby Bradlee Shopping Center following after-school fights between students there.
Wilson and council members Del Pepper and Amy Jackson voted against reallocating the program’s funds and the school board had, before the add/delete session vote, voiced strong preference to keep SROs in the school.
Wilson did vote in favor of the final city budget, including defunding the program, but later explained that his hands were tied: “Not voting for the budget would have meant de-funding ALL of our Police, our Fire Department, our human services, our schools, etc.,” he wrote in an email to Alexandria Living Magazine earlier this fall. “Shutting down our government because I don't get my way on one budget item is lunacy.”
The issue may come up, again, at the City Council meeting this coming Tuesday, Oct. 12.
