SCHOOL SAFETY GISD works to implement armed guard requirements
2023 EDUCATION EDITION
NEW LEGISLATION With the passage of House Bill 3 in this year’s Texas legislative session, school districts throughout Texas are now required to have one armed security guard on each campus.
The security guards could include: School district peace ocer
Commissioned peace ocer employed as security personnel
BY GRANT CRAWFORD
new leadership will have with the agency, as GISD’s board of trustees hired Devin Padavil as the next superintendent Aug. 7. “Our partnership with GDP is really good,” said Melinda Brasher, exec- utive director for communications and community engagement. “We’re going to continue that [memorandum of understanding] with them to keep school resource ocers at our cam- puses. How that evolves, I don’t know that we have real solid answers yet.” As part of the legislation, districts will receive $10 per student and $15,000 per campus to meet the requirements. The law also provides that Commissioner of Education Mike Morath may appoint a conservator to oversee a district’s school board and administration if it does not submit school safety information or comply with intruder detection audits. GISD has eight school resource
A law passed by the Texas Leg- islature this year will require every school district in the state to have an armed security guard on every campus starting in September. The legislation came as lawmakers renewed focus on school safety in response to the 21 people killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde Texas in May 2022. However, it’s unclear how soon some districts will be able to implement the measure, as ocials navigate nancial hurdles and a competitive marketplace. The bill’s language, though, does not outline penalties for districts who do not comply with the new rules by September. In Georgetown ISD, preliminary conversations are still underway with the Georgetown Police Department, the district’s partner for stang school resource ocers. It also is a conversation the district’s
School resource ocer
School marshal
School district employees who complete safety training with a qualied handgun instructor
SAFETY SPENDING HB 3 provides that school districts receive additional state funding to pay for new requirements for armed security. Some school districts have expressed concern that the extra money will not cover all of the costs associated with the new law.
$10 for each student in average daily attendance Under the bill, each school district will receive:
$15,000 per campus
SOURCE: TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINE COMMUNITY IMPACT
ocers already in place, serving its 19 campuses. With some of those campuses in close proximity to each other, the district spreads out its SROs across all of the schools to ensure ocers are always close
by, if not directly on campus, Brasher said. GISD has implemented many safety measures already, thanks to bond propositions and “taxpayers supporting those eorts,” Brasher said.
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GEORGETOWN EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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