It’s been more than a month after the school resource officers were placed on leave at Alexandria City High School, and police have yet to replace those officers.
The officers were placed on leave shortly before the winter break after a former student alleged having “sexually inappropriate conversations” while she attended ACHS, according to the Washington Post.
Police said that the investigation of the officers is ongoing, and were vague as to what the plan is for the future.
SROs continue to work in the city’s two middle schools, and the memorandum of understanding between the police and schools remains in place. But there are no SROs at ACHS, which has more than 4,000 students and is the largest high school in Virginia.
“The SROs for ACHS have not returned, but we will continue working with the ACHS staff, to ensure students and staff are safe,” APD public information officer Marcel Bassett told ALXnow. “The plan is what it always has been for APD, which is to protect and serve all members of the Alexandria community.”
SROs are police officers with sidearms who receive 40 hours of specialized training with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Service’s Center for School Safety. They work alongside unarmed security personnel, and are trained in deescalation, seizure and arrests on school grounds, operating during active shooting incidents and working alongside kids with emotional and behavioral issues.
SROs were briefly defunded by City Council last year, and were brought back after outcry from the school system after a number of incidents with weapons in and around schools.
ACPS deferred all questions to the police department.