CHESAPEAKE, Va - School districts in Hampton Roads are making security changes ahead of the upcoming school year. That includes Chesapeake Public Schools.
The Chesapeake school district is ramping up school security in elementary schools by adding sheriff deputies to their campuses. Some say they like the extra layer of security.
"I think deputies in schools is a necessity as well as metal detectors," Angie Polk, a Chesapeake parent, said. "Unfortunately that’s the time we live in."
News 3's Leondra Head asked Polk if the she was comfortable sending her kids to school with the deputies there.
"Absolutely," Polk said. "If you want my personal opinion, I think that teachers should carry too. It would make people think twice about entering our schools."
Another parent agrees.
"We can have them in every single school if it means preventing some of the tragedies that we see across the country," Jen Dugan, a Chesapeake parent, said.
There will be 8 Sheriff's deputies in Chesapeake elementary schools. Each deputy will be armed and tasked with monitoring 3-5 elementary schools on a daily basis.
Within the last year, there was one reported incident of a Chesapeake elementary school student bringing a weapon to Grassfield Elementary School.
"We want to provide them with a safe learning environment and have their first encounter with law enforcement be a positive one," Sheriff O’Sullivan said.
School superintendent, Dr. Jared Cotton, said there is a school resource officer in every middle and high school provided by the police department. Due to police shortages, the district started a partnership with the sheriff's department.
"We just don’t have the manpower for the police department to provide those officers," Cotton said.
In May, the board approved adding armed security guards to elementary schools, but with the partnership with the Sheriff's office, Cotton said they no longer plan to do that.
"If this works, which I’m confident it will, we’re not going to need to arm our staff members," Cotton said. "We’re going to let the experts handle the safety."
The superintendent said the district is also testing out weapon detection systems.
"We’re piloting weapons detection systems in three of our schools," Cotton said. "One elementary, one middle, and one high school to determine if that’s something we want to consider moving forward."
