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Editor,

The purpose of this memorandum is to correct comments made by Mr. Paul Roushia during the  most recent Isle of Wight County School Board meeting (“Sniffing out school violence,” Aug. 10).

During Mr. Roushia’s speech he made mention of the contract with Hampton City Schools. In his comments he said that Hampton City Schools had a gun problem, a drug problem and a vape problem, and that they contacted us to help them fix it. That is not indicative of the situation in Hampton City Schools or the relationship and partnership that has been established with Hampton City Schools.

Most importantly, Hampton City Schools contacted us as a proactive measure to be an additional layer of their safety and security protocols they have in place. The reason for the contract was not reactive in nature. The contract was in place prior to the most recent tragedy in Uvalde and other high-profile school shootings.

It was stressed to us during contract negotiations that Hampton City Schools wanted to put  preventative steps in place to prevent that from happening in their schools. The problem of  drugs and vapes in schools has been brought to our attention, but it was not mentioned during  discussions with Hampton City Schools. In fact, Hampton City Schools has its own narcotics dog and does not utilize us for this service. Other local school districts have brought that up, though, as a problem they are facing and have asked how K9 teams would impact that.

Mr. Roushia deeply regrets that the comments made during the open forum as they were not  correct, and therefore has portrayed a negative image of Hampton City Schools. The following  link done in partnership with Hampton City Schools does a great job at explaining the School K9  Safety Initiative from the school’s perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy4kXvO5dJ4&t=18s

 

James Overton

Director of marketing & business development

American K-9 Interdiction LLC

Carrsville