Selma schools to hire three school resource officers to increase safety

The Selma City School system is looking to hire at least three School Resource Officers to provide more safety within the district’s schools. 

One will be stationed at Selma High School, another will be at RB Hudson Middle School and the third will rotate at the other schools, Selma City Schools spokeswoman Cynthia Milledge told the Selma Sun on Monday. 

The Selma school district is advertising on social media for officers to apply for the positions as a School Resource Officer and “make a difference in the lives of students. Protect, mentor and inspire the next generation.” 

The push for SROs comes a week after Selma High and the alternative school were placed on virtual learning in response to a violent weekend between students that included threats of violence on the high school campus. 

The threats started after a fight between students at the high school on April 24 led to a student getting shot in the head the night of April 26. The student is recovering at a Montgomery hospital. That shooting sparked retaliation efforts throughout the weekend and the shooting of another student in the foot on April 27. Threats of more violence, including at the campus, continued through the weekend and prompted school officials to put Selma High and the alternative school on virtual learning most of last week. 

During the violent weekend, Selma City Schools Superintendent Dr. Zickeyous Byrd could not get in touch with Police Chief Kenta Fulford for updates on arrests and requests for assurance of safety at the school to make a decisionregarding in-person classes.  

By Monday evening, Selma schools say they were given word that police would be on campus Tuesday morning, so they reopened school for classes. However, according to Mayor James Perkins Jr., police didn’t come to campus until after 9 a.m. when classes were already in session. Byrd and his staff decided to close classes for the remainder of the week in what Byrd called in an email to parents “an abundance of caution.”  

Perkins cited what he called Fulford's slow response to the school situation as one of the reasons he placed the chief on administrative leave with pay, asking the City Council to make “a change” in public safety leadership. For more information on the police chief decision, see Page 3. 

Byrd has had other issues getting in touch with Fulford in the last year. According to emails released by Perkins at last week’s press conference announcing Fulford’s administrative leave, Byrd asked Fulford to come to Selma High and perform a drug search starting in September. The search wasn’t conducted until mid April. 

Byrd also asked for a vehicle from the Selma police department for a school resource office they hired in November, but the department would not provide one. In a letter to Fulford, Byrd said he had not been able to reach Fulford after many tries to address the issue of purchasing or leasing a vehicle from the police department. 

Selma school spokeswoman Milledge said they are currently working through other agencies to purchase police vehicles for each SRO.