Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

Typo - “process for discussing”

So, the building is on fire but you want to argue about which phone to use to call the fire department? Brilliant.

These comments in this post are going to age so horribly if there is a shooting in the school and a kid dies.

Nailed it. Great response to the PP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hutchings asked the city council last night to immediately reinstate SROs. If you watch the video in attached news article from Channel 7, at the end he states that the student that brought the loaded weapon to school because he didn’t feel safe there (from which I infer the student had some sort of threat against him and was bringing it for protection, perhaps similar to the student in the Arlington, TX shooting this weekend).

And IF there are similarities in these events, let’s take a moment to look at what happened in TX this week. From eye witness accounts and a video there was a fight in the classroom in which the shooter was beaten. After the fight was broken up, the shooter gets his gun out of his backpack and shoots the student who beat him up and the teacher is also shot. The shooter’s family has claimed the shooter was repeatedly bullied and didn’t feel safe at school.

So just because this wasn’t a “mass shooting” (which by definition is two or more people killed in the same shooting) doesn’t mean this wasn’t awful or that it couldn’t have been much worse with more students shot either purposefully or by ricochet bullets.

Could an SRO made a difference? Could metal detectors at the door made a difference? Is it the job of a teacher to intervene vs that of an SRO when violence between students who are big enough to be/are adult size is present or a potential?

http://wjla.com/news/local/school-board-city-council-return-sros-alexandria-city-schools

The Texas school had SROs.

Correct. It was a very small shooting because of that.

I am original PP. I was trying to ask the question whether having an SRO would have prevented what happened at ACHS/TC. In the WJLA article in the video one parent who spoke to the news and the school board is even advocating for metal detectors. He says his son is getting beat up repeatedly, as recent as last week.

The video of the Arlington, TX classroom fight is online, you can do a google search for it and find it on twitter. There are two people in the fight, one who is beating up another. The aggressor is incredibly violent, throws the other kid across the room, into chairs, into a bookshelf. You can hear what I suspect is a female teacher yelling "HELLO" to get their attention, but this is an incredibly violent beating, all one side, it's not really a fight by my standards because the kid getting beat up has zero chance. What is "HELLO" going to do? How is a teacher supposed to handle this without herself getting severely hurt? Once the fight is broken up, apparently the kid who got beaten up (with the white shirt) is the one who gets a gun out of his backpack and shots the kid (in black) that basically beat the cr@p out of him. The shooting is NOT on the video. But I think people should watch the video of the beating, and the video on the GWMS fight insta page that shows the McDonalds encounter from earlier this week to hone in what is happening to our youth. Some kids are literally getting violently beat up. Some kids have become insanely violent to triggers (whether they are the ones being beat up and bring a gun to school OR they're the ones beating the day lights out of people).

I'm sorry but we need SROs AND mental health professionals at ACHS. Yesterday. It's unconscionable what is happening.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hutchings asked the city council last night to immediately reinstate SROs. If you watch the video in attached news article from Channel 7, at the end he states that the student that brought the loaded weapon to school because he didn’t feel safe there (from which I infer the student had some sort of threat against him and was bringing it for protection, perhaps similar to the student in the Arlington, TX shooting this weekend).

And IF there are similarities in these events, let’s take a moment to look at what happened in TX this week. From eye witness accounts and a video there was a fight in the classroom in which the shooter was beaten. After the fight was broken up, the shooter gets his gun out of his backpack and shoots the student who beat him up and the teacher is also shot. The shooter’s family has claimed the shooter was repeatedly bullied and didn’t feel safe at school.

So just because this wasn’t a “mass shooting” (which by definition is two or more people killed in the same shooting) doesn’t mean this wasn’t awful or that it couldn’t have been much worse with more students shot either purposefully or by ricochet bullets.

Could an SRO made a difference? Could metal detectors at the door made a difference? Is it the job of a teacher to intervene vs that of an SRO when violence between students who are big enough to be/are adult size is present or a potential?

http://wjla.com/news/local/school-board-city-council-return-sros-alexandria-city-schools

The Texas school had SROs.

Correct. It was a very small shooting because of that.

Anonymous wrote:Hutchings asked the city council last night to immediately reinstate SROs. If you watch the video in attached news article from Channel 7, at the end he states that the student that brought the loaded weapon to school because he didn’t feel safe there (from which I infer the student had some sort of threat against him and was bringing it for protection, perhaps similar to the student in the Arlington, TX shooting this weekend).

And IF there are similarities in these events, let’s take a moment to look at what happened in TX this week. From eye witness accounts and a video there was a fight in the classroom in which the shooter was beaten. After the fight was broken up, the shooter gets his gun out of his backpack and shoots the student who beat him up and the teacher is also shot. The shooter’s family has claimed the shooter was repeatedly bullied and didn’t feel safe at school.

So just because this wasn’t a “mass shooting” (which by definition is two or more people killed in the same shooting) doesn’t mean this wasn’t awful or that it couldn’t have been much worse with more students shot either purposefully or by ricochet bullets.

Could an SRO made a difference? Could metal detectors at the door made a difference? Is it the job of a teacher to intervene vs that of an SRO when violence between students who are big enough to be/are adult size is present or a potential?

http://wjla.com/news/local/school-board-city-council-return-sros-alexandria-city-schools

The Texas school had SROs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

Typo - “process for discussing”

So, the building is on fire but you want to argue about which phone to use to call the fire department? Brilliant.

These comments in this post are going to age so horribly if there is a shooting in the school and a kid dies.

No. I didn’t say anything about not taking necessary action to address immediate security threats. If there needs to be a police presence immediately because Hutchings failed to arrange sufficient ACPS security to keep his students safe, that ACPS should call APD for help. Assuming the “fire” is put out, there is a separate (but related) discussion about whether there should be SROs and what that program should be if reinstated.

Very, very, very few actual students, parents of students, teachers and staff don't want SROs in the schools.

It's insane that we are letting our kid's lives be toyed with like this because a select few woke POC have an agenda.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

Typo - “process for discussing”

So, the building is on fire but you want to argue about which phone to use to call the fire department? Brilliant.

These comments in this post are going to age so horribly if there is a shooting in the school and a kid dies.

No. I didn’t say anything about not taking necessary action to address immediate security threats. If there needs to be a police presence immediately because Hutchings failed to arrange sufficient ACPS security to keep his students safe, that ACPS should call APD for help. Assuming the “fire” is put out, there is a separate (but related) discussion about whether there should be SROs and what that program should be if reinstated.

I really hope "I didn't feel safe" doesn't become an acceptable excuse for carrying a loaded weapon into a school.

And can anyone confirm that the kid who brought a gun to AC had been expelled and prohibited from stepping foot on campus again?

Hutchings asked the city council last night to immediately reinstate SROs. If you watch the video in attached news article from Channel 7, at the end he states that the student that brought the loaded weapon to school because he didn’t feel safe there (from which I infer the student had some sort of threat against him and was bringing it for protection, perhaps similar to the student in the Arlington, TX shooting this weekend).

And IF there are similarities in these events, let’s take a moment to look at what happened in TX this week. From eye witness accounts and a video there was a fight in the classroom in which the shooter was beaten. After the fight was broken up, the shooter gets his gun out of his backpack and shoots the student who beat him up and the teacher is also shot. The shooter’s family has claimed the shooter was repeatedly bullied and didn’t feel safe at school.

So just because this wasn’t a “mass shooting” (which by definition is two or more people killed in the same shooting) doesn’t mean this wasn’t awful or that it couldn’t have been much worse with more students shot either purposefully or by ricochet bullets.

Could an SRO made a difference? Could metal detectors at the door made a difference? Is it the job of a teacher to intervene vs that of an SRO when violence between students who are big enough to be/are adult size is present or a potential?

http://wjla.com/news/local/school-board-city-council-return-sros-alexandria-city-schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

Typo - “process for discussing”

So, the building is on fire but you want to argue about which phone to use to call the fire department? Brilliant.

These comments in this post are going to age so horribly if there is a shooting in the school and a kid dies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

Typo - “process for discussing”

Anonymous wrote:DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

I am “quibbling” about Nolan because Nolan has previously made completely disrespectful statements about the council people who voted not to fund the SROs going forward. Rather than agree to a proves for discussing whether SROs should return and if so, what it would look like, Nolan just wanted to get her way immediately. I think the safety concerns are real but I think the downsides of having police permanently in school is real too.

DP. It is interesting that this is what you are quibbling about. There is enough consensus among ACPS staff members that Nolan can make that statement and those of use who work for ACPS applaud her for saying it. There is a very, very small number of staff members who do not support the return of the SROs to the schools but the vast majority does indeed support it, as do the Principals of the schools, and a majority of students.

Anonymous wrote:Please watch the 9/27 joint city coucil/school board meeting. I urge you to listen to School Board chair Meagan Alderton and vice chair Veronica Nolan. Both of them give testimony as to why I am for BOTH SROs and mental health providers as a current teacher at the high school. I urge you to stop listening only to the national rhetoric about the school to prison pipeline and listen to Mrs. Alderton and Ms. Nolan. These lifelong educators understand this very important issue and their comments are important. Alderton's comments start at minute 55 and Nolan's follow. Please watch this and hear what they are saying! http://alexandria.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=57&clip_id=5183&fbclid=IwAR2PDR4VA7SrzLsdxwDSLsObQjYHBdhibTuzORLMxf4ZvILwTXtl_P--JY0

How can Nolan, a single member of the school board, speak for the “school division” and say that the “school division” wants SROs back? She lacks the legal standing to make that statement. Nolan then pretty much asks Chapman to speak for the council as a whole when he lacks authority to do so.

Please watch the 9/27 joint city coucil/school board meeting. I urge you to listen to School Board chair Meagan Alderton and vice chair Veronica Nolan. Both of them give testimony as to why I am for BOTH SROs and mental health providers as a current teacher at the high school. I urge you to stop listening only to the national rhetoric about the school to prison pipeline and listen to Mrs. Alderton and Ms. Nolan. These lifelong educators understand this very important issue and their comments are important. Alderton's comments start at minute 55 and Nolan's follow. Please watch this and hear what they are saying! http://alexandria.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=57&clip_id=5183&fbclid=IwAR2PDR4VA7SrzLsdxwDSLsObQjYHBdhibTuzORLMxf4ZvILwTXtl_P--JY0

There is significant research showing that having SROs in schools helps improve the quality of the school environment and improve relationships within the school on a day-to-day basis. In addition to all the research, the teachers, Principal and most students at the school feel strongly that having SROs at the school would have made this school year start less tumultuous and less violent, with fewer incidents of fighting both on and off campus.

Stakeholders who are not part of the immediate school community should listen to those people who are feet-on-the-ground at the school. If the Principal, teachers and a majority of students say they want SROs in his school then they should be provided. They are much better judges of what they need than a few out-of-touch and renegade City Council members who have their own sneaky agendas.