Rogers is now helping the district form its own police department to meet the requirements of new state law House Bill 3. She will transition into the role of police chief once the district receives state approval to launch the department.
Prior to joining LISD, Rogers was the assistant chief of police for Houston ISD and a patrol deputy for the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office and Brazos County Sheriff's Department in Bryan. She worked as a nurse for over 10 years before joining law enforcement.
The outlook
The district is working to submit its application to create the police department with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement—after which it expects to receive approval in 30-45 days, Rogers said.
LISD plans to host town halls in the coming months to inform community members about the new police department and state legislative requirements, she said.
Rogers said she hopes to have officers and school marshals on campus sometime between January and next school year; however, a definite time frame is yet to be established.
Rogers spoke with Community Impact about her plans for the district as it works to bring LISD police officers and school marshals to campuses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to work in an educational setting as a law enforcement officer?
Initially, my nursing career was awesome. There's nothing wrong with nursing. [I] love it. It's a public service, and public service is what I love. But, as I grew, I developed this love for law enforcement and working with kids came after I saw a few of my classmates say, ‘Hey, I'm going to go into school policing.’ [I] had no idea about school policing. I always saw the city cop at my school, but never thought of school policing. I love working with kids, and that's my desire, so I've stayed in school policing since 2014.
What attracted you to Leander ISD?
I had a classmate ... at the Sam Houston [Law Enforcement] Management Institute [of Texas] ... that actually worked here at Leander ISD as a [school resource officer], and she bragged about this place an awful lot. I told her that I wanted to do my research, and ... I saw that this was a family-oriented school district. They gave back and they pour into kids, and that's where I said I wanted to stick my roots at.
What will you be doing in your new role as the executive director of safety and security?
My new role [is] creating the police department for the school district. The timelines for that ... is based on [the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement’s] process of creating that. So there's really not a timeline that I could potentially give. There's a lot of moving parts to this, and so it's going to [depend] on when we can meet those milestones that TCOLE has put in place in order for us to do that. My goal and my focus is strictly setting up the police department and setting it up in the safest way possible.
What do you hope to accomplish in your role?
Creating an environment for our staff and our students to feel safe to learn and work. That's my goal. That's my focus. I want us to be able to create a space where everyone knows the procedures for safety aspects—whether that's keeping doors closed, making sure that we're not propping doors open [or] safety drills. There's a lot of things that go into the safety aspect of setting up a police department as well as the safety team that we have with emergency management.
What steps is the district currently taking to form the police department?
I call this phase the pre-application phase. The pre-application phase is basically gathering all of the documents, putting the ... standard operating procedures in place that TCOLE is requiring us to do in order for us to even apply for the police department. ... Once you gather all of that stuff, then you can apply to TCOLE, and TCOLE will give you an agency number to start hiring folks and doing what you need to create the space. Until you have your radio communications in place, your property room in place, having uniforms, your vehicles, ordering equipment for you to do your job ... until all of that is created and put in place, we're in a prephase of the application.
What advice would you give your younger self if you were a student in Leander ISD?
Not to put yourself in a box. Don't always believe that because you start in a certain profession that doesn't mean that you can't transition over and reach for the stars. Always keep an open mind and reach for those stars regardless of whether someone tells you you can or can't do something—because I crossed professions. People always ask me, ‘Why did you leave nursing?’ But I love law enforcement and I love helping people, so public service is public service to me.
