VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The superintendent for Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Dr. Aaron Spence, is speaking out about safety after he says the district has seen an increase of threats in school.
Dr. Spence said there has been an increase in student behavioral issues happening across the country and here in Virginia Beach.
Dr. Spence spoke to the media via Zoom Monday afternoon, saying since the return from winter break, the district has sent out 60 messages to families about school threats. He said this is a significant increase.
He said there's also been an increase in disruptive behavior, specifically in younger students.
“We’re seeing things like children lashing out in their classrooms, throwing a pretty high-level tantrum, screaming, yelling, maybe hitting or biting a teacher. We’ve seen a lot of those behaviors, maybe where they pick up a chair and throw it," he said. We’ve had to clear out classrooms on a fairly regular basis to make sure that we can get the child calm and not hurt himself or others and that’s not something we saw a lot of prior to the pandemic."
Dr. Spence cited a national study from the Education Advisory Board that found 84% of all respondents involved in the study agreed that students’ behavioral skills are developmentally behind students of the same age from two years ago.
Dr. Spence wants parents to speak to their children about the dangers of making threats in the classrooms and be aware of what is happening.
“Given our climate today, given what happened at Richneck Elementary School and across our country, we simply can’t afford not to take every threat seriously,” said Dr. Spence.
For the first time, the district put 17 armed security officers to assist school resource officers in schools this year.
Dr. Spence says they are working to add more mental health positions in the district and put more resources towards the problem.
Here is the school safety and student support webinar info:
Elementary:
When: Mar 1, 2023 05:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: School Safety and Student Support
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GFuIl4D7TgK24W_lA6I-YQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Submit questions by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28
Secondary:
When: Mar 1, 2023 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: School Safety and Student Support
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GFuIl4D7TgK24W_lA6I-YQ
Submit questions by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28
