Decision On School Resource Officer Funding Reallocation Deferred

ALEXANDRIA, VA — On Tuesday, Alexandria City Council deferred a decision on releasing funding for school resource officers for other positions at Alexandria City Public Schools. The decision is scheduled for a July 6 public hearing.

The fiscal year 2022 budget approved by City Council in May included a temporary reallocation of $789,909, which had been in the police department budget for school resource officers at ACPS, to contigent reserves. City staff had been directed to come back to City Council with a proposal to fund mental health resources for school-age children, the Teen Wellness Center, an additional Behavioral Health Specialist for the Alexandria Crisis Intervention and Co-responding Program pilot program, or other ideas.

The change received support from Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker and Councilmembers Canek Aguirre, John Chapman, and Mo Seifeldein during the budget add/delete session.

The recommendations from city staff for the $789,909 in funding are an Alexandria mentoring partnership coordinator for $101,000, public health nurse at the high school's Minnie Howard Campus for $122,000, therapist supervisor at the Department of Community and Human Services' Child and Family Behavioral Health Services for $122,422, human services specialist for $98,654, and licensed senior therapist for $111,435.

City Council will also collect public input for the proposal as part of the July 6 public hearing. Input from the Alexandria School Board is being sought, and Mayor Justin Wilson and Councilman John Chapman will seek additional input at the next schools subcommittee meeting next Monday.

According to the Alexandria Police Department website, the school resource unit dates back to 1997. There are two school resource officers assigned to T.C. Williams High School, one at the Minnie Howard campus and one at George Washington Middle School.

School staff and students bid farewell to the school resource officers as their on-campus duties ended with the school year's conclusion. Officer Alexander Jensen, the officer who was assigned to George Washington Middle School, was one of the three Alexandria police officers who engaged the gunman at the Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria in June 2017.