WASHINGTON — The Prince William County Board of Supervisors passed a budget for the 2019 fiscal year Tuesday, approving a pilot program for the school system that will allow retired police officers to serve as armed school security guards.
It makes the county the first school system in Virginia to take advantage of a state law passed last year allowing schools to hire retired cops.
“The additional five security guards and one supervisor will complement the school board’s focus on safe and secure schools,” school officials said in a statement Wednesday.
Supervisors tacked on an extra $500,000 to the budget in order to fund the plan.
The school board had already approved its own budget which included more resources for safety, such as 13 additional social workers, a mental health specialist, a psychologist and three additional high school counselors.
Under the retired officer program, the school system will be responsible for hiring the new personnel.
“This allows schools to employ armed security officers who are school employees,” Barry Barnard the county’s police chief said during a board meeting earlier in the month.
Barnard recommended starting out slow, saying it could be expanded later.
“I think we need to be prudent about how we get into it,” Barnard said. “It’s important that we learn about this program and that we understand what this brings to our schools.”
Supervisors said they wanted to look further into the issue of school safety given recent shootings, including the mass shooting in February at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.
In order to be considered for the new pilot program, officers must be retired for no more than 10 years, must have training involving active shooters and must be in good standing with their former agency.
Armed school resource officers, who are employees of the county police department, are already assigned to every middle and high school.
The new budget takes effect in July.
