The Alexandria City School Board voted unanimously last night (Thursday) to extend its contract with the Alexandria Police Department through June 30.
The extended memorandum of understanding (MOU) will give the School Board’s Governance Committee more time to draft a new contract proposal that fully addresses its concerns, Division Counsel Robert Falconi said at last night’s meeting.
This is Alexandria City Public School’s second extension for this particular MOU. Without the extension, the contract would have expired on Tuesday, Dec. 30.
School divisions in Virginia that operate with school resource officers (SROs) are required by law to review those contracts every two years. ACPS’ document outlines both parties’ purpose, goals and responsibilities in the partnership.
The district and department currently employ one SRO sergeant and five SROs, according to the city.
Key among the Governance Committee’s concerns was a now-dropped APD proposal that would have granted school resource officers greater access to district records, but Falconi said more issues arose during the committee’s Nov. 13 meeting.
“If we’re able to resolve it faster than six months, that’s great,” Falconi said. “The new MOU will take effect as soon as it is adopted by both parties, and the old MOU will be obsolete at that point. But this just gives us a buffer, so that we can continue to work on making those amendments.”
Falconi said the City Attorney’s Office did not object to the proposed extension and that he expects the MOU to be adopted soon by APD.
