VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Since students returned from winter break in January, Virginia Beach school administrators have sent nearly 60 messages home to families about threats to the school division, Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence said Monday.
“I can tell you the numbers are way up, but I can also tell you we are taking those threats seriously,” Spence said.
The superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools held a discussion about school security and student support Monday, and school officials will hold webinar sessions on the topic with parents later this week.
Spence is urging parents to help teachers tackle an increase in behavioral issues -- an issue he says isn't just a Virginia Beach or Hampton Roads problem, but something schools across the nation are grappling with.
He cited a national study by education data company EAB that reports teachers are noticing more disruptive student behavior since the COVID-19 pandemic. He said they are especially seeing the disruptive behaviors with younger students.
“We have seen where maybe they pick up a chair and throw it,” Dr. Spence said. “We have had to clear out classrooms on a pretty regular basis to make sure we can get the child calm and not hurting himself or others.”
Dr. Spence said a threat assessment team at each school handles the threats, and school resource officers tackle possible criminal issues. Last week, police arrested three students at Ocean Lakes High School for allegedly making an online threat against a teacher.
Over the past three years, he said the division has bumped up security measures. He said they installed security desks and buzz-in visitor systems in every school. He said they have increased staffing for behavior intervention specialists, and more.
Now they are creating a task force to consider adding metal detectors. He said currently school officials have metal-detector wands, if needed.
“I think there is a mixed bag of evidence about the effectiveness of that,” Dr. Spence said. “I think there are some serious considerations that we would have to understand before we were to do that.
This school year they started phasing in armed school safety officers, and 17 officers are now in secondary schools.
“Deterrent to weapons in our schools and to somebody thinking they can come to harm to our children and staff,” Dr. Spence said. “Those are all retired law enforcement officers.”
This budget cycle, Dr. Spence said they asked for three more behavioral intervention positions and ten additional student support specialists in elementary schools to focus on mental health.
He urges parents to take advantage of school behavioral resources for their kids and talk with them about the seriousness of threats.
“Reinforce the messages we are sending home,” Dr. Spence said. “If you get a text message and it says remind your child they can’t say or do these things in school, take a minute, take 30 seconds to have that conversation at dinner.”
School administrators will talk about some of those tactics with families this Wednesday. There's a webinar to talk with families about school safety and how they can support students best. They said officers with the Virginia Beach Police Department will also join. They have the links and times posted on the division Facebook page.