Watson Chapel district employs security firm

A Pine Bluff-based security firm will staff the Watson Chapel School District’s intermediate and secondary schools starting today.

District Superintendent Jerry Guess confirmed Thursday that V Force Security would provide two officers each at Watson Chapel junior and senior high schools, and another officer at Coleman Intermediate School. The firm will also work with the two security officers hired by the district.

“This seemed like a good model for additional security,” Guess said. “These folks will help us to be able to man the security and be a presence on the doors.”

V Force Security owner Vince Edwards said at least three officers would begin manning campuses today. He said he hopes to have security at the Watson Chapel campuses fully staffed by Monday.

“We feel honored to be considered, first of all, and we’re going to do our best to fulfill the obligation,” Edwards said. “Our main goal is to provide the security we can, at the same time while helping to put food on the table for other employees.”

The hiring of V Force Security helps the district address concerns about campus security after the March 1 on-campus shooting of 15-year-old Daylon Burnett, who died at a Little Rock hospital two days later. Burnett’s classmate, Thomas Quarles, 15, is being held without bail in a juvenile detention

facility on a capital-murder charge and will be tried as an adult.

Hiring the security service, which Guess said he is allowed to do without School Board approval, also will help the Pine Bluff Police Department keep its regular patrol sufficiently staffed. The department has not placed school resource officers on local campuses since last year but has assisted Watson Chapel with additional security presence in the days since the shooting.

“We thought we might get off-duty police officers, but there just aren’t many of those,” Guess said. “They’re working overtime.”

With the additional school security personnel, Jefferson County sheriff’s office Sgt. Thaddeus Arnold, who works at the district, can respond to calls that may come from the elementary schools, Guess said.

Sheriff’s office deputies and Arkansas State Police troopers have been called to Watson Chapel schools in recent days, Guess said.

“The ASP was present this morning,” Guess said Thursday. “I had a real good conversation with the local police commander. He wanted to know if they could walk through. We’re getting a lot of help. Deputies and police officers are driving through. We are just determined to reassure parents, students and staff the schools are safe.”

Guess is also looking into providing counselors to help faculty members and students deal with the trauma of recent events. He told district personnel that he has spoken to Bessie Lancelin at Southeast Arkansas Behavioral Health Services about providing a specialist on the high school and junior high campuses for teachers, as well as a trauma counseling specialist who trains school counselors on related methods.

“I had a real good conversation with the local police commander. He wanted to know if they could walk through. We’re getting a lot of help. Deputies and police officers are driving through. We are just determined to reassure parents, students and staff the schools are safe.”

— Jerry Guess, Watson Chapel School District superintendent