Panel: Loudoun County elementary schools should add security

Max Marcilla
·3 min read

ASHBURN, Va. (DC News Now) — Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) leadership wants to hear from its community members as they work through new recommendations to improve student safety.

When new Superintendent Aaron Spence came to LCPS at the beginning of the year, he stated that one of his top priorities was safety. In December, Spence convened the Blue Ribbon Panel, which was tasked with reviewing what LCPS was doing to keep students safe and analyze what more can be done.

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The panel, which was made up of school leaders, administrators, law enforcement and more returned their 11 recommendations earlier this month.

According to LCPS, the recommendations are to:

  • Add security personnel coverage to elementary schools such as SROs or SSOs (Safety and Security Officers, who are unsworn staff members) or LCPS Patrols or private firm.

  • Increase security personnel coverage for after-school events. (SROs or SSOs or LCPS Patrols or private firm)

  • Ensure that there is internet coverage throughout the entire school building, including hallways.

  • Create a full-time supervisory position that is solely dedicated to managing the SOC and expand the SOC.

  • Prioritize school-level participation in safety and security and threat assessment training.

  • Ensure that SROs and UMHT representatives are involved in every threat assessment.

  • Have the school board label the Division of Safety and Security as a Law Enforcement Unit.

  • Create a formal alternative education site to allow for enhanced security measures for high-risk students.

  • Work with public safety officials to assess public safety radio coverage within schools and address any gaps.

  • Create a basic cybersecurity/social media best practices course and mandate completion for key stakeholders within LCPS.

  • Add a digital analysis assessment to all serious and very serious threat assessments.

Currently, LCPS has a school resource officer at every middle and high school (36 in total, most coming from the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office but a few from the Leesburg Police Department). In the district, there are roughly 60 elementary schools that currently have a “designated point of contact.”

The first recommendation does not specify whether elementary schools should be staffed with SROs, SSOs, patrols or a private firm.

“Looking at the numbers and the personnel, budget and all those kinds of things,” said LCPS Spokesperson, Dan Adams, when discussing what will go into a final decision.

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DC News Now reached out to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) but it declined to comment on any of the recommendations, as they are in the midst of reviewing them.

In a statement, a spokesperson for LCSO said, “Sheriff [Mike] Chapman has been a longstanding proponent of strengthening the security of Loudoun’s public schools to better protect students, teachers, and others who work there, including the expansion of our School Resources Officer (SRO) program, training for stakeholders, and transparent and timely communications.”

LCPS is asking community members to weigh in on the recommendations, and they can do so by clicking on this link. Comments will be taken through May 9.

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