Fauquier County VA July 19 2018 A total of 109 people have so far applied for 15 new school-security positions planned to ensure all of Fauquier County’s 20 schools are equipped with armed guards when the new school year begins in August.
That’s according to Fauquier County Sheriff Bob Mosier, who gave the Fauquier County School Board an update July 9 on the hiring process for new school security personnel.
Of the 109 applicants, 13 were found to be qualified for the new positions, which must be filled by current or former law-enforcement officers who have left their departments within the last 10 years.
Two of the 13 were disqualified for issues of “moral turpitude,” Mosier told the board, explaining the applicants did not pass the sheriff’s department’s background checks for the new hires.
Still, the sheriff’s office will soon fill eight of the open positions and hopes to have all 15 positions filled, and their new occupants trained, by the time school starts Aug. 15, Mosier said.
“I realize that’s ambitious, but by the start of the school year, these [school security officers] will be handed over to you,” Mosier said.
The sheriff’s department is still working to hire one school-resource officer and 10 additional school-security officers, Mosier said.
The county’s goal is to have school resource officers in every middle and high school as well as at Southeastern Alternative School and Claude Thompson and Mary Walter elementary schools.
The two elementary schools were chosen because they are farthest from the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Warrenton. Claude Thompson is in Marshall, while Mary Walter is in Bealeton.
School resource officers, sometimes called SROs, are sworn law-enforcement officers who are employed by law-enforcement agencies but work in schools. The officers are permitted to carry guns. They typically perform routine security duties as well as other tasks, including teaching occasional classes and interacting with students. Part of the goal for SROs is to familiarize the students with law-enforcement officials.
