Youth Resources Officers in Cville Schools? Get up to Speed and Speak Up
March 3, 2024 — We’re all juggling a million things — spring sports, SOLs/APs, field trips or any other EOY activities — during this month of MAYhem. So you might have missed this newsflash: The Charlottesville City School Board will potentially vote Thursday, May 30 (technically the June meeting) on a proposal to add Youth Resource Officers (YROs) to Buford Middle School and Charlottesville High School in the 2024-2025 school year.
Charlottesville United for Public Education has not taken a position in favor of or against YROs, but we are strongly encouraging everyone to eek out a few minutes of time – while sitting in the bleachers or in the car line or instead of scrolling through social media tonight – to get up to speed and share any questions, opinions and/or concerns with the School Board and Dr. Gurley before May 30 or during the meeting. We’ve provided resources below.
We’ll be sharing more in the days to come, but for now CUPE’s concerns lie primarily with the community engagement and funding aspects of the proposal and believe the community deserves clarity on:
Who shoulders the cost of the approximately $600,000 for the YRO program?
If the funding is coming from the City (via the Police Department), why is this investment being prioritized over the critical student-facing classroom personnel – ESL teachers, site-based substitutes – that teachers and the community clamored for when there was a budget shortfall (of a nearly identical amount) just weeks ago?
Although the community has weighed in on various aspects of the CCS Safety Model previously, the YRO proposal itself – and the inclusion of Buford not just CHS - is new. As such, how will the community be engaged beyond School Board meetings, two “walk and talks” with the Charlottesville Police Department, and online surveys?
Do you share these concerns? What other questions do you have? Let us know and we'll share with the School Board. You can email charlottesvilleunited@gmail.com.
If you're a current CCS parent/caregiver, you should have received a message with additional information via Parent Square from CCS on Wednesday.
Links to helpful resources:
School Safety Presentation from May 18 Board Meeting
May 22 ParentSquare communication which includes a list of pros and cons
CCS School Safety Website
Cambridge Model (this is an example of an YRO model in middle and high schools)
The School Board is scheduled to consider YROs at their meeting scheduled for next Thursday, May 30 at 5pm at CHS. An agenda and online registration have not yet been posted.
If you are unable to attend in person, you can share your voice directly with school board members by calling or emailing them:
Board email address: schoolboard@charlottesvilleschools.org
Board phone number: 434-245-2400
Email addresses for individual members:
Ms. Lisa Larson-Torres, Board Chair: torresl1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Mr. Dom Morse, Vice-Chair: morsed1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Ms. Amanda Burns: burnsa1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Ms. Shymora Cooper: coopers1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Ms. Emily Dooley: dooleye1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Mr. Chris Meyer: meyerc1@charlottesvilleschools.org
Ms. Nicole Richardson: richarn1@charlottesvilleschools.org