Public Safety Forum Planned By Alexandria Schools

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Public safety in schools and the community will be discussed at a forum hosted by Alexandria City Public Schools and Alexandria Council of PTAs Wednesday.

The public safety forum will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at George Washington Middle School. Panelists will discuss safety in the schools and community, how ACPS collaborates with the Alexandria Police Department, and how families can help keep students and staff safe. Attendees will also have the chance to ask questions. The event will include child-sensitive information.

Panelists will include Interim Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt; John Contreras, ACPS director of safety and security services; Faiza Jackson, director of school social work; Alexandria Police Department Officer Richard Sandoval; Mike Mackey, a Alexandria City Gang Prevention Community Task Force member; Andy Corso, Everytown for Gun Safety’s Be SMART Secure Gun Storage Program member; and Alex Carroll, an Alexandria Department of Transportation & Environmental Services representative.

Residents may attend in person, online via Zoom or Facebook live streaming. Anyone who wants to attend in person should RSVP at www.acps.cc/SafetyForum. Pizza will be provided at the school and interpretation services will be available in Spanish, Amharic, Arabic and Dari.

Incidents of violence had been a concern in the last school year, particularly at the ACPS middle and high school campuses. There were 46 arrests in the last school year among hundreds of safety incidents, as reported by ALX Now. Near the end of the school year, senior Luis Mejia Hernandez was killed in a stabbing at the shopping center, leading the schools to transition students to virtual learning. Limited students who needed to complete graduation requirements were allowed to visit schools while additional security measures were put in place.

ACPS started the school year with new and returning safety measures. At middle and high school campuses, students must have their student identification every day so administration and security officers can ensure only students are accessing campus during the school day. All schools will have designated entrances for students, staff and visitors to better control access to schools. The high school campuses will continue to have a staggered dismissal process, lunch blocks supervised by staff.

ACPS must also decide the future role of school resource officers. City Council had removed funding for school resource officers for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. However, after incidents of violence, including a student with a gun arrested outside Alexandria City High School, the school resource officers were restored. School resource officers are in place for the new school year, but a School Law Enforcement Partnership advisory group is examining the ACPS and Alexandria Police Department partnership.