VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As the Summer program “Parks After Dark” kicks off in Virginia Beach, law enforcement and school officials are teaming up to try and find more ways to keep students and the community safe.
On Tuesday, Virginia Beach City Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Donald Robertson, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate, and other members of the school division and the police department visited Renaissance Academy. It’s an alternative school for grades six through 12.
This comes after several recent shootings involving teens in Virginia Beach. Last week, before city council, Chief Neudigate talked about a connection between recent violence and the school.
Watch: 5 out of 7 homicides in Virginia Beach in 2024 involved people under 18 years old
News 3 asked Dr. Robertson why Tuesday’s visit was important.
“I think it was important, because, the comment that the chief made, was in my opinion, taken out of context,” said Robertson. “It just seemed like the story turned into where the Renaissance Academy is where all these troubled kids are. When the fact is with the Renaissance Academy students who were involved recently were victims.”
Chief Neudigate was not available to comment when this report was written.
Robertson went on to say that he’s grateful for the unity between schools and law enforcement, and he hopes they can expand ways to keep students and the community, safe.
Watch: Virginia Beach City Council approves funding for youth program after teen shooting in Level Green
“We just discussed not only what happened but how can we move forward and provide additional supports— whether it’s within Renaissance Academy or out in the community because again, we have too many teenagers that are making choices right now that impact the greater community, not only impacting themselves," he said. “If there’s anything we can do to prevent that in a proactive manner versus a reactive manner—it happened and there are consequences—that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Next week, according to the superintendent, a group of school resource officers and mentors will get together to talk about ways they can help keep youth engaged throughout the year. He said one way might be to expand the Parks After Dark program or offer other similar activities.
Parks After Dark is happening June 6 through August 24 on most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6 to 11 p.m. at Williams Farm Park.
