NORFOLK, Va. — With a new school year underway, the News 3 Investigative Team is looking into safety practices in public school districts across the seven cities of Hampton Roads.
We reached out to school districts in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News, and Hampton to inquire about the districts' safety improvements, the number of security resource officers (SROs) present in each division, and how weapon detection systems and metal detectors are used.
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Responses from Hampton Roads school districts on school safety, security
A month-long News 3 inquiry of school divisions and review of public school board meetings reveal local schools face challenges related to funding and law enforcement shortages, leaving elementary schools without full-time armed officers on campus throughout the school day.
However, nearly every public secondary school in Hampton Roads, including schools that house Pre-K-8 on the same campus and/or in the same building, middle schools and high schools, are usually staffed by armed law enforcement officers throughout the school day. Those officers are assigned to patrol or visit elementary school campuses when needed.
Parents and education leaders want to see the number of SROs solely dedicated to a campus expand.
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“We’re actually handing our children's lives over to [school districts] when they’re not in that care,” Shareka Wiggins, a Suffolk parent, shared with News 3 anchor and investigator Jessica Larche ahead of the new school year.
Security concerns in elementary schools
The News 3 Investigative team first spoke with Wiggins after her oldest daughter was brutally attacked by a bully at a Suffolk middle school.
Now, her three youngest children will all be students in elementary schools in the Suffolk Public Schools district.
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That’s why Wiggins says it’s concerning to know that none of the public elementary schools in the seven cities have SROs solely dedicated to each campus full-time and have to share resources with middle and high schools.
This issue has been discussed in public meetings by school leaders, like Suffolk. It’s also outlined on school division websites, like Virginia Beach.
Recent incidents in local elementary schools where an SRO was not on campus have elevated the concern for parents and school division leaders.
On Jan. 6, 2023, a six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News shot and injured his teacher, Abby Zwerner, in a case that garnered national attention.
A special grand jury report revealed the school “did not have a consistent full time security resource officer.”
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News 3 Investigator Jessica Larche sat down with Zwerner a year after she was shot by her student.
She said the shooting incident has left her with lasting physical and emotional scars.
“Very hard. Troubling. Traumatic,” Zwerner said in January, explaining she has gory nightmares. “[It’s been] mostly downs and not ups.”
Then on June 14, 2024, a man ran into Kilby Shores Elementary School in Suffolk, barricading in a bathroom with students inside.
Police say he wasn’t armed and didn’t hurt anyone, but it took six minutes for a Suffolk police officer to arrive and intervene.
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Similar to the Richneck incident, there was no law enforcement assigned solely to the Kilby Shores campus.
“Thank God he wasn’t (armed), but what if he was in there armed, in that school building with those kids?” Wiggins said.
News 3 sat down with two Suffolk school board members following that incident. Both school members said they agree that school districts should be transparent with the public about safety measures.
“As much information that I can share without compromising safety, I would share it with you, because I owe it to you to share that information with the public,” Tyron Riddick, elected to represent the Suffolk Borough of the Suffolk Public Schools division previously told News 3. “We’re protecting your kids when they’re in our care.”
According to public information News 3 gathered from each public school district in the seven cities, every high school and nearly every middle school, or secondary school, has a law enforcement officer based on campus.
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Those officers are also assigned to support and patrol the elementary schools when needed.
Dr. Jared Cotton, superintendent of Chesapeake Public Schools, said the lack of full-time law enforcement at every elementary school is troubling.
“What would happen is, if an issue happened in our elementary schools, the middle or high school officer would have to come down to cover the elementary school,” Cotton said.
Cotton acknowledged that having an officer leave their post at a middle or high school to cover a threat at an elementary school is concerning.
“We feel like the best way to keep our schools safe is to add a support person, a law enforcement person there,” he said.
That’s why Dr. Cotton said the school is working with the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office to address the gaps in safety and security at the school division's elementary schools.
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Dr. Cotton told News 3 that grants funded eight school resource deputies, or SRDs, to serve the 28 elementary schools in the city last year.
This year, the district had enough funding to double the number of SRDs.
“We’re going to be at 14 for this upcoming year, which means that one deputy will serve two schools, not three or four,” Cotton said.
With deputies sharing the elementary school load, police officers can stay put at each of the secondary schools.
“We felt like, ‘There’s no way we’re going to make this happen,’” Cotton said. “And here we are today.”
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The other school divisions said funding and staffing are barriers to adding SROs and SRDs.
However, the undersheriff in Portsmouth said public schools in that city without a full-time SRO are patrolled by a deputy.
Many schools across the regional have school security officers, or SSOs, at every schoo. SSOs are school staff members who are trained in safety and security.
However, they usually are not armed.
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As for Wiggins and her girls in Suffolk, she says she feels good about safety at Nansemond Parkway Elementary.
“I was doing parent pickup, and they ID’d me,” Wiggins exclaimed with approval. “[That means] nobody just sliding in there and picking my kid up."
Wiggins said she's also please with the school's use of weapons detection systems in the schoo, too.
Still, she said she hopes school divisions and cities find ways to increase SROs solely assigned to elementary schools full-time.
“Hopefully, one day, it can change,” Wiggins said.
