Grant for school resource officer awarded to CC, NK

With recent occurrences in schools such as the incidents in Newtown, Conn. school safety concerns have escalated to an all-time high. Thanks to a grant approved by Gov. Bob McDonnell, two local schools can rest a little bit easier.

Charles City High School and George Watkins Elementary School are beneficiaries of McDonnell’s school resource officer (SRO) grant.

“Creating a safe learning environment is paramount to insuring a high quality education,” said McDonnell in a press release. “This is a vital part on our efforts to do everything we can to assure safe and secure students for every Virginia student.”

Charles City and New Kent school systems were among 24 cities and counties in the state to receive grants for the position. Superintendents and local law enforcement expressed delight over the June 17 announcement.

“We are extremely excited to finally get a school resource officer,” said Charles City superintendent Janet Crawley. “We badly needed it with the types of incidents occurring across the country.”

In addition, Crawley said the locality searched for alternative means of funding to provide the position for schools. Cooperating with the Charles City Sheriff’s office played a vital role in the grant, a statement supported by Sheriff Javier Smith.

“We’re thankful it happened. It’s much needed,” commented Smith. “It’s been a couple of years, but the office took the lead and reached out to the superintendent when the grant was available and we received a positive response from her.”

“This is big for our office and the schools,” he added. “I hope this is a position that will bring the schools and the sheriff’s office closer together.”

In New Kent, the news of the grant exemplified the needs at George Watkins Elementary School, a school seven miles away from the sheriff’s office and school complex.

“[The school’s] access to portable classrooms now has adequate supervision,” said superintendent Rick Richardson. “The grant puts us in a stronger position for safety and security.

“Parents appreciated the extra deputies there after the Newtown incidents,” he added. “I thank Sheriff [F.W.] Howard and his staff for writing the grant.

After nearly seven years of attempting to obtain the grant, Howard said he is thankful for it.

“We’ve been having deputies go to George Watkins sporadically,” said the sheriff. “It is great to have someone up there full-time now.

“There are a lot of programs the school resource officer provides,” he continued. “We are very excited about this opportunity.”

Schools are continually taking additional steps to increase security. New Kent has confirmed the implementation of keycard readers on entrance doors for the upcoming year.

School resource officers are expected to be in place for the new school year.