Concerns raised over plans for mental health facility near local school
BELVEDERE, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Talks are ongoing to bring a new mental health facility near Belvedere Elementary School.
But some parents at the school are not on board with that decision.
Parents and neighbors say their main concern with any new business near the school is safety.
Aiken County School District says 15 schools are currently without a school resource officer — Belvedere Elementary is one of those 15.
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Belvedere Elementary parent, Bryce Morgensen, says, “it was rezoned as a mental health facility. You don’t know why they’re there. I’m not trying to judge. I’m a big advocate for mental health. I’m not saying anyone has bad intentions, but we don’t know.”
Another parent, Hollynd Seek, says parents “Never got anything. Neighbors have lived in their house for 48 years. Never got anything. Neighbors across the street lived there for 30-something years. Never got anything.”
Parents say they’re worried about what kind of services the center will provide.
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“Now my son wants to walk home from school,” Morgensen explains. “And now that I know that this is a thing I don’t even know if I allow him to do that.”
They say it’s needed in the community — but it’s the location that matters.
“If they want to put it outside on Belvedere, Clearwater Road or outside,” Seek says. “I’m for it. I’m 100% for it.”
And parents say any new traffic around the school worries them.
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“Any kind of business is bringing in more people and more people around a school is dangerous when you don’t have a school resource officer there to protect them,” Seek explains.
The school district says SRO positions are funded through grants by the state.
Vicky Gaskins, director of security and emergency management at Aiken County School District, says, “The school district cannot apply for those funds. Law enforcement has to apply for those, and that is dependent on their manpower.”
But she says it’s challenging, “It’s not just Aiken. It’s across the state, across the United States is a shortage of law enforcement officers. And so that is one of the hurdles that law enforcement in general have in applying for these grants”
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While they work on getting more SROs, the district says other security measures are in place.
“We have weapons detectors in all of our schools,” Gaskins says.
The school district says over the last three years it has added 12 state grant-funded SROs and will continue to work until every school has one.
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