The election of officers to the Round Rock ISD board of trustees prompted little discussion during the Nov. 19 meeting. Moments after Charles Chadwell, who served as president for the past year, opened the floor for nominations, Trustee Terri Romere nominated Secretary Paul Tisch to sit at the head of the dais. Vice President Pauline Law seconded the motion.

No other nominations for president were asserted, and Chadwell declared Tisch the new board president.

Similarly, Law retained her seat as vice president of the board after a nomination from Trustee Nikki Gonzales and a second from Trustee Suzi David. Trustee Terri Romere was elected to replace Tisch as board secretary after being nominated by David and seconded by Gonzales.

Trustee Diane Cox was not present for the vote.

Trustees are elected every two years, but officers are elected every year.

After the election, Chadwell thanked the audience and the board for allowing him to serve as president.

“The best part of it is there’s a great staff, great community and great students,” Chadwell said. “It has been an honor to serve as board president, and I look forward to serving with Ms. Law, Mr. Tisch and Ms. Romere.”

Students react to SRO incident

Two students—one female, one male—testified during the public comment portion of the meeting, saying more and better school resource officer training was needed in the district.

SROs are law enforcement officers responsible for school security.

According to an Oct. 9 news release from the city, Round Rock SROs were called to break up a cafeteria fight. On Oct. 10, a video was posted to YouTube depicting an SRO grabbing a student by the neck and forcing him to the ground.

In the wake of the video, some community members have accused the SRO of excessive force. According to the release, officers were forced to detain the student for safety reasons after repeated attempts to calm him down had failed.

One of the students who spoke at the meeting started a petition on www.change.org to fire the officer; more than 250 people have signed it.

After the two students spoke, a handful of people sitting in the audience loudly began chanting, “black lives matter,” held up protest signs and walked out of the meeting room in procession.

The board did not address the students’ statements in the meeting room. According to a school official, members of the administration spoke with the group outside the meeting room.