Dripping Springs ISD approves school marshal program

DRIPPING SPRINGS — On Aug. 28, the Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the process of opting into the Texas School Marshal Program.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3 in June that requires school districts to have at least one armed security officer, specifically peace officers, present during regular school hours at each campus by Sept. 1. Under the bill, if a district is unable to fulfill the requirement due to a lack of funding or personnel availability, it may claim a good cause exception.

If filing an exception, a school board must provide an alternative standard — a school marshal, an employee or contracted individual — in order to fulfill the requirement. However, there is no other flexibility beyond the exception process.

Back in May, the DSISD Board of Trustees voted to add three school resource officers (SRO) to the four that the district already has through a memorandum of understanding agreement with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office. However, the county has been unable to provide the additional officers due to staffing shortages, causing the district to look at alternative options.

“The state wants police officers on our campuses to meet that mandate. We have SROs, but we are waiting for those positions to be filled by the sheriff’s office,” said DSISD Director of Safety Sirenna Cumberland. “But in conversations with the sheriff’s office, there’s still ongoing staffing shortages. In the meantime, we, as a district [and] the board of trustees, have to go forth with doing our best to comply with this mandate.”

What are school marshals?

The Texas School Marshal Program was established in 2013 by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) to give school districts the option of having trained selected employees to be armed marshals to protect students from armed intruders.

Participants in the program are required to complete a psychological exam and an 80-hour training through an academy licensed by TCOLE; the training includes topics such as school marshal history, physical security, use of force and active shooter strategies and techniques.

DSISD school marshals will be appointed by the board of trustees and must be a current district employee and have a current concealed handgun license.

Job responsibilities of school marshals, according to DSISD, include the following:

• Provide safety and security to students, staff and visitors at their assigned campus

• Monitor and ensure that staff and students are following all campus safety protocols

• Oversee campus emergency plans, emergency drills, door audits, exterior and interior safety protocols, campus safety trainings and day-to-day assignments by campus principal

They can also make arrests, but only to prevent offenses involving serious bodily injury or death.

Community concerns

During the public comment period of the meeting, some community members spoke up in reference to the school marshals item.

Monica Newton, a parent of three students who attend DSISD schools, said that she wants to see school marshals  trained beyond the minimum qualifications issued by the state.

“Highly-trained SROs would be our first choice. Since the entire state is short on SROs [and] an SRO training program is backlogged for months, our next choice would be highly-trained marshals,” she said.

Another DSISD parent, Amanda Lobb, said that the board of trustees should keep the safety of all students in mind when implementing the school marshal program. She agreed with Newton that DSISD should have requirements in addition to those provided by the state.

“Go above and beyond any requirements that the state [has]. I mean, 80 hours of training? My hairdresser has more,” Lobb said. “We need to have a really tight job description that has a lot of vetting behind it and these aren’t just vigilantes that are out there to be crusaders. My ask is that you also replace them with our SROs once they become available and have that as part of the application process.”

The board’s perspective

While it was a unanimous decision by the board to implement the school marshal program, the item was not left without discussion.

The identity of the school marshals — specifically whether or not the students, staff and parents would know who they are — was brought up first by trustee Olivia Barnard.

Cumberland responded, saying that the school marshal’s identity will not be revealed.

“We are not going to go on record and say, This individual is a school marshal.’ But at the end of the day, if anyone is paying attention to the daily operations of the marshal, it’s going to be apparent who they are, if that makes sense. They are going to be doing door audits, training with staff, possibly directing traffic in the parking lot,” Cumberland explained. “They are not going to be identified.”

Trustee Shannon O’Connor asked for a timeline regarding the SRO positions that were approved by the board in May.

“In May, the [sheriff’s office] was optimistic and felt like they could give us one of the three starting in the fall. There has been a change in their staffing and so, they really can’t give me a timeline. We still have a great relationship and they are still keeping me in the loop. However, they can’t necessarily say,” Cumberland responded. “It’s a four-month training program, so if they get someone interested in the SRO position, which I feel like they have, I still think that there are positions on the street that are so short that even if somebody comes in interested in the SRO position for Dripping Springs, they are having to place them on patrol.”

Board president Stefani Reinold echoed the point that there are people who are interested in being an SRO, but the Hays County Sheriff’s Office does not have enough people to meet the needs of the county.

“Staffing is an ongoing issue. When we say low staffing in Hays County, I was trying to find the number in my notes, but I believe [the sheriff’s office] said something like 70 officers. They are not one to two officers short,” she said. “It was stated in our May meeting that they have officers interested in the SRO program, which if they had full staffing, would be able to go through that training which is about four months long. However, because they were 70-plus officers short on the street, they are not going to be able to make that transfer … The larger picture at play here for us to be able to meet the mandate, to meet the law by an SRO, is we are looking at filling 70 officers.”

Discussing implementing marshals on campuses and how to protect students from potential intruders is not the most positive conversation, trustee Rob McClelland said, but it’s necessary.

“Our mental health epidemic in our country has resulted in a place where we have to sit here and talk about who's going to have a gun in elementary school protecting the kids. So, let's just acknowledge that I don’t think anybody is pleased that this is where we are,” he said. “But, this is where we are. I spent most of my career doing military and security operations all over the world and it’s tough. It’s especially tough in an environment where there are kids … We have got to do everything we can at the local government level, which is where our responsibility is, to make sure we have the safest and most secure schools anywhere.”

McClelland agreed with the goal to target the school marshals being retired law enforcement and professionals.

“If we can benefit from retired military officers, non-commissioned officers and retired law enforcement officers who maybe didn’t want to retire, but the environment was one in which they needed to and they can come back and serve us in this way and serve their community, I think that’s a wonderful opportunity for them,” McClelland said.

He also asked if teachers would be armed as a result of implementing the program and Cumberland responded, stating they will not be.

According to agenda documents, school marshals will be assigned to any DSISD campus that does not currently have an SRO on-site. They will primarily be assigned to the elementary campuses that do not have a shared campus.

Highlighting some of the concerns that members of the public have, O’Connor questioned what it’s going to look like when SROs do become available in the future.

“We are talking quite a while before we get the three SROs; we are struggling to get one, much less three. So, we are going to have time and turnover in our marshal program, which is going to give us flexibility to move those. Ideally, our goal is SROs ... If we were choosing, we ask y’all for SROs. Y’all approved that, that was the district’s goal,” responded superintendent Dr. Holly Morris-Kuentz. “Marshals are our alternative standard and so, the goal would eventually be to get back to SROs, but we also recognize through our relationship with Hays County, that’s going to be a while.”

“I just want to make sure it’s really clear communication because it sounded two different ways,” O’Connor said. “I just want to make sure it’s really clear and that we understand where that looks forward to.”

Cumberland reiterated that the district will remain patient and have continuous conversations with the sheriff’s office.

“I am constantly having conversations with the sheriff’s office and with the constables, knowing that this requirement is here. They are going to do their best to fill those gaps,” she said. “Just know, they are on board with assisting any way they can.”

Though she was unable to give an exact timeline for the program, Cumberland said the process to hire a school marshal could take an estimated two to three months at the earliest.

To watch the full board of trustees meeting held on Aug. 28, visit bit.ly/461EEaL.