The Alexandria Police Department (APD) has removed from consideration a controversial request that would have granted school resource officers direct access to student records, according to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS).
Following the grilling of Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire by the City Council, the School Board unanimously voted last Thursday to extend the soon-to-expire two-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ACPS and the police. The six-month extension means that Alexandria City High School and the city’s middle schools will continue with their assigned school resource officers as is, while the details of the draft MOU are ironed out.
Alicia Hart, Chief Executive Officer for Alexandria City Public Schools, told the School Board that APD took the provision granting SROs access to student records off the table.
“APD is no longer requesting that direct access,” Hart said. “They would like to continue to work with ACPS to figure out how we can expedite getting them directory information when it is needed to respond to an exigent circumstance, but not necessarily needing that direct access anymore.”
School Board Chair Michelle Rief expressed pleasure with the Board’s decision.
“I’ve been just kind of reflecting on this idea of giving just kind of blanket access to directory information, and I appreciate the feedback that we receive from the community on this,” Rief said. “I really prefer the way we’ve operated, currently, where SROs continue taking this information on an as-needed basis by requesting information from an appropriate ACPS official, such as a school administrator.”
Board Member Ashley Simpson Baird said that Alexandria’s recent designation as a sanctuary jurisdiction by the Trump administration, along with the role of the U.S. National Guard and “militarization of the police,” gives her more pause about sharing student information with the police.
“I think we just need to be really cautious about any mechanisms we set up for sharing their information,” Simpson Baird said. “I, of course, don’t want to impede them from doing their job when they need to, especially if there are safety concerns, but I also want to make sure that we are creating a safe, welcoming environment for our students and families in our schools.”
Board Member Alexander Scioscia said that the decision to delay the MOU is about the future.
“When we’re no longer on the Board and there’s new APD officers or new leadership,” Scioscia said, “where we have to have good checks and balances in place so that no one can abuse any sort of access or any sort of program that we might put in place.”
Board Member Abdulahi Abdalla said that the language was a “pretty big overreach.”
“I had an immediate negative reaction to it,” Abdallah said. “I thought it was a pretty big overreach from APD to request student records… I’m really glad we’re slowing it down and taking the time to go ahead and discuss it as a board.”
