The Danville City Council will consider a budget amendment to accept state dollars for the continued funding of school resource officers at two public schools. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, a change from its regular Tuesday evening time due to Election Day.
This is the third year that the city has received grant funding for school resource officers from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice, according to the staff report in the meeting’s agenda packet.
School resource officers, or SROs, are fully trained police officers assigned to work in schools.
The grant, about $103,000, will be matched by nearly $33,000 in local dollars, for a total of about $136,000. The local share will come from the city’s General Fund.
If approved by the city council, the money will continue funding two SROs — one at George Washington High School and one at Westwood Middle School.
“The school resource officers will respond to calls for service and deal with incidents on school property during school hours or during school-sanctioned events,” the staff report says. “They will attempt to identify at-risk juveniles and provide intervention, counseling, or other assistance as needed.”
SROs not only provide security to their assigned elementary, middle or high school, but they also “provide another positive role model for students,” according to the city website. “Officers are involved in many areas of school life, including school extracurricular activities,” like the Special Olympics.
City staff recommends that the council vote to accept the budget amendment for this funding.
This is the only meeting in Danville this week. In Pittsylvania County, the planning commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday.
