CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) and the Charlottesville Police Department (CPD) have begun the process of hiring two school resource officers to serve Charlottesville High School and Charlottesville Middle School.

“Advertising it should actually come out today or tomorrow,” Charlottesville Police Chief Mike Kochis told WINA Morning News on Thursday. “So, if there’s a sworn officer in Virginia who’s interested in being an SRO, they can apply. You have to be a Virginia certified officer, and then we will have a selection process. And the school will be part of that process of selecting the officers.”

Last March, the School Board voted 4-2 to bring back police officers, called School Resource Officers, or SROs. Following pushback, CCS held a series of public “listening hours” to refine the guidelines for SROs, which outline roles, responsibilities, procedures, and shared values. Both Chief Kochis and CCS Superintendent Dr. Royal Gurley have now signed a memorandum of understanding detailing how the SRO program will work.

“Dr. Gurley and I have an excellent relationship. We always have. I hold him in very high regard, and I think that relationship is very important,” Kochis said. “We talk regularly and he’s thoughtful. He has a different dynamic of what he has to deal with, that I have to deal with. We understand that, and we respect that.”