YORK COUNTY — In light of the high number of recent threats against district schools, members of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office (YPSO) and the York County School Division (YCSD) hosted a community forum on the topic of school safety Wednesday night.
During the conversation, York-Poquoson Sheriff Ron Montgomery and Superintendent of Schools Victor Shandor shared the different approaches to school safety. Shandor spoke of the multi-pronged approach that the division uses to assess and mitigate threats on its buildings, while Montgomery spoke of the possible criminal charges that a threat can lead to.
“This is not just a York County issue, it’s all over the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it’s getting worse and worse. The concern that we have and what we really want to get across is that in the Commonwealth of Virginia under the law, if you communicate a threat, that you’re going to shoot up a school or you are going to harm a school and you hit the send button, once you’ve done that you’ve potentially committed a class 6 felony in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Montgomery said.
Currently, the York County School Division has implemented strategic measures to protect buildings and students and staff against threats. Each school has a security vestibule, cameras on every exterior door, and each door remains locked throughout the day and is only accessible by a key fob access card.
YCSD and YPSO actively train for threat situations together. One such training, Operation Falcon, was highlighted at the meeting. Shandor noted that due to its success, YCSD has already been in talks to bring the training back again next summer.
During Operation Falcon, which was a simulated drill between YCSD, YPSO, and York County Fire and Life Safety, the teams trained through the threat itself, the mitigation of the threat, and the family reunification process. After learning of some issues with the family reunification plans in the district, YCSD has integrated a reunification trailer, equipped with everything possibly needed in the event of the need for reunification, into its response measures.
Since the start of the 2024-25 school year, the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office and the York County School Division have investigated threats at Tabb High School, Tabb Middle School, Grafton High School, Dare Elementary School, Bruton High School, and a Seaford Elementary school bus.
Currently, each York County high school and middle school has a School Resource Officer (SRO), and there are two School Security Officers assigned to each high school and one assigned to each middle school.
Shandor also noted ways that the community can help during times of a potential threat investigation, including not contributing to rumors on social media and posting or sharing misinformation.
“In the event of an emergency, rely on official updates from the school division and the sheriff’s office. Avoid rumors. If you see those things, please have discussions with your kids or please report those to school officials and the sheriff’s office. Those rumors cause confusion and can certainly cause fear,” Shandor said.
The forum also allowed citizens to ask questions that ranged from average response time, the difference between a School Resource Officer and a School Security Officer, how threat assessments are deemed credible, possible implementation of metal detectors in all school buildings, and the impact of executive order 33 — The Virginia Department of Education’s final cell phone-free education guidelines — on parental communication during threats.
Ultimately, Shandor hopes that parents and guardians will talk to their children about the severity of making threats and the potential impacts they may face.
“These things are not jokes. If I can tell you one thing tonight, it’s talk to your kids when you get home. Talk to them about their phone, talk to them about their social media. Talk to your children about the seriousness of making threatening comments, talk to your children about what they can and cannot bring to school,” Shandor said.
The full presentation will be available to view on both the York County School Division and York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office websites.
