Most school divisions in Virginia employ school resource or safety officers, according to a 2025 Department of Criminal Justice Services survey. And some, like Williamsburg-James City County Schools, place SSOs in pre-K settings.
The school division, a spokesperson said, is aiming to hire additional SSOs for a pair of “dedicated pre-k facilities” that are currently being built.
The Commonwealth requires specific training for each type of these officers. And while their use briefly declined following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and the subsequent social justice uprising, said Chelsea Dunn Torrey, Legal Aid Justice Center's youth justice program director, the trend’s reversed.
Charlottesville City Schools used SROs, who are certified law enforcement officers, between 1976 and 2020, a district spokesperson said. And following a recent vote, the division will again have a pair of SROs in the fall — one working at Charlottesville High School and another out of Charlottesville Middle School.
City police spokesperson Kyle Ervin didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking information on whether there were past use-of-force incidents or arrests by SROs at Charlottesville schools.
The partnership between CPS and CPD, as in other Virginia localities, is governed by a memorandum of understanding. In Charlottesville, the agreement runs through June 2028.
“Charlottesville City Schools’ SRO program fills gaps in our previous safety model while also containing essential guardrails, in line with the division’s values, to protect the rights of students and staff,” said Amanda Korman Simalchik, the district’s supervisor of community relations. “Crucially, the Memorandum of Understanding between CCS and CPD was heavily influenced by community feedback, including the incorporation of many of the changes requested in an online petition created by four Jackson-Via (Elementary School) parents and then signed by 238 people, called ‘Police in Charlottesville City Schools: Community Recommendations.’”
The Charlottesville MOU says the officers can be compensated for working “athletic competitions or school social events,” while also including social justice language and prohibiting the district and CPD from working with federal immigration authorities.
The immigration component is key to LAJC: The organization previously found two SROs in other districts, governed by different MOUs, were members of departments with 287(g) agreements — a program that partners local law enforcement with federal immigration agents.
Dunn Torrey said The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act would normally insulate information in a student’s school record, including their immigration status, from being accessed by the officers.
“But if it's information that's kind of being informally communicated, there's no clear restrictions on the use of that information,” she said. “So, if those officers are then empowered to engage in federal immigration enforcement, they can either share that information or they themselves can actually take enforcement action.”
She took issue with officers, which in some cases are funded through a DCJS grant program, for a range of additional reasons. Among those is their presence in educational settings potentially reinforcing the school-to-prison pipeline and dealing with students who have a range of needs.
“Our experience suggests that SROs will often escalate situations and conflicts in schools versus de-escalate,” she said. “When you have a child, for example with an emotional disability, a big part of their (Individualized Education Program) is probably going to be self-regulation and de-escalation strategies.”
As with policing at large, Dunn Torrey said funding used for SROs and SSOs would be better used to employ behavioral health professionals trained to provide care.