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Charlottesville board hears wide community opposition and staff outline next steps on SRO MOU
Summary
Public commenters, students and teachers urged the board to pause the MOU to return school resource officers, citing process shortcomings and research on effectiveness; staff outlined a fall engagement schedule and tasked a work group to produce a data-driven rationale for four SRO positions and to clarify complaint, body-camera and training provisions.
The Charlottesville City Schools board spent the bulk of its meeting on the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) to place School Resource Officers (SROs) in city schools, hearing repeated calls from teachers, parents and students to slow or stop the process while staff outlined a more intensive engagement schedule.
Dozens of speakers during two public-comment opportunities pressed the board to expand outreach and to incorporate community recommendations into the draft MOU. Teacher and community members described the current working group as administrator-heavy and said earlier stakeholder efforts in 2019 were sidelined; many urged the board to restart or substantially revise the process before signing an agreement. “Pause the MOU process and start again,” teacher and community member Emily Kingsley told the board, citing national reporting and scholarship questioning whether SROs reduce campus violence.
Board members and staff defended a…
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