GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. - A school resource officer (SRO) in every school is the goal in Gloucester County.
“I think it’s great, I don’t think there’s ever an amount where there’s too much protection," said parent Rosie Packett.
According to school administrators, right now they have two SROs at Gloucester High School, one at each middle school, and two who rotate between the five elementary schools.
The Gloucester County Sheriff's Office is recruiting to fill additional SRO positions. Sheriff Darrell Warren Jr. said he's hoping to have qualified candidates start the academy in January, and be placed in schools soon after.
“You have to be flexible, you have to be engaged with the children, that’s the paramount thing, being engaged, being safety conscience,” Warren said.
School administrator Bryan Hartley said the goal of an SRO is not only protection but connection.
“We don’t have school resource officers in our building just to have law enforcement on call, it’s not their primary role. What we want is them in our lunch rooms interacting with students, we want them in the hallways," Hartley said. "Not only to provide supervision but we want them to interact with students, and be another adult in our building students can come to.”
The $261,000 needed to fund the three positions came from state grant money, and according to county administrator Carol Steele, it's not forever.
“The funding is for one year and we can reapply, we anticipate reapplying and we can do that up to three years, eventually we’re going to have to find the funds to keep these positions going,” Steele said.
Poquoson Schools also recently added additional SRO positions, to ensure there's one in every school. More information can be found here.
