NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The relationship between the Newport News Police Department and Newport News Public Schools has improved by “leaps and bounds.”
That’s according to Chief Steve Drew, who addressed the matter during his monthly “Chat With the Chief” session this afternoon.
As we head into a new school year, school safety and the Richneck Elementary School shooting are still top-of-mind for many families. Drew said the police force is working with school leaders on this.
“The biggest thing for me is that we’re communicating, that we’re sharing information with the school, and the school is sharing information with us. And I think we have come leaps and bounds," Drew said. “We have a great relationship with the school systems, a great relationship with the school superintendent.”
The Newport News School Board appointed Dr. Michele Mitchell as superintendent earlier this month. Drew said he's in constant communication with her team.
“Dr. Mitchell and myself have a great relationship," he said. "I have welcomed her and congratulated her on her appointment. I probably talk to the school once, if not twice, during the week in the day, and then even a couple of times on the weekend in the evening... We have stayed in contact all summer long as we talk about plans and preparations for the new school year.”
When it comes to school safety in Newport News, the chief said school administrators have a lot of good plans on the table like metal detectors and clear backpacks.
Drew said he doesn’t want to prematurely announce what school administrators have in the works when it comes to school safety, but he said there are two new positions in the division, both of whom have ties with the police.
“I don’t want to speak on behalf of the schools but... just some different strategies and some things they’ve added to staffing and things they are doing, they have shared with me along the way. We’ve had good open communications, Dr. Mitchell is on top of it,” Drew said.
"They’ve added a couple of positions. We’ve gotten to meet both of those individuals. Both of them are homegrown from this area, have family here, ties here. One I worked with 25 years ago when I was in Richmond and the other one has some ties to Newport News Police Department as well.”
The start of a new school year comes as the mother of the first-grade student in the Richneck Elementary School shooting pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to a felony child neglect charge. Drew said he’s proud of the work his team did in that case that’s led to this point.
“I believe that some communities will reach out to look at the way we handled that investigation as textbook. I can tell you, we’ve gone to other localities and explained what we did, why we did it, and how we did it," Drew said. “I think those detectives and officers that responded, the school staff, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the case agents, I think they did an amazing job... processing the scene, all those forensics interviews that had to be done with young people. Maybe I am bragging on them. They did -- with tremendous pressure from across the country -- they stayed focused. They stayed focused they did a good job.”
The chief said he will attend Tuesday night's school board meeting and he expects school administrators to announce more details about school safety plans, moving forward.
The first day of class for Newport News Public Schools is August 28.