The big picture
House Bill 3 mandates that every K-12 school campus has an armed officer. During his presentation to the board, Superintendent Jeremy Glenn laid out the security concerns the district is facing in regard to this mandate, along with the options available to address them.
He said SROs from the Southlake Police Department are used on every campus to provide security. However, Glenn added there are gaps due to illness, vacation and other absences when an SRO is not available.
“Ultimately, Carroll ISD is still required under law to have an armed officer on each campus every day for the duration of the time students are on that campus,” Glenn said.
Glenn said that in the spring of last year, there were 15 times when the district failed to have an armed officer on campus. So far this year, there have been 10 occurrences.
“That means that 98% of the time, Southlake PD is providing us with an SRO,” Glenn said. “So tonight’s discussion really centers around options for the 1-2% of school days when an SRO is unavailable.”
A closer look
Glenn outlined two options that other area school districts have already taken to supplement their security measures. One is the marshal program, the other is the guardian program.
Glenn said that under the guardian program, which Keller ISD and Lewisville ISD use, armed officers would have 16 hours of training. The marshal program, which Plano ISD uses, requires armed officers to have 80 hours of training. Marshals also must be certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
While both programs allow for districts to arm staff, Glenn said that option is not being considered by Carroll ISD officials. He added the marshal program will not replace the SRO program.
“We’re talking about marshals being used as substitutes in the event Southlake PD is unable to provide security so that we can be in compliance with that 1-2% of the days whenever we do not have coverage,” Glenn said.
Another viewpoint
Several Carroll ISD residents were on hand to express their opinions on the marshal program. Glenn Javens, a member of the gun safety group Moms Demand Action, spoke about the need to keep guns out of schools.
“Research shows that in K-12 schools, that three out of four students are the ones that actually commit the gun violence,” Javens said. “Why is it that whenever there’s a problem around gun violence, our solution is to advocate more guns in the school because that’s exactly raising the risk of harming our students, teachers and faculty?”
Javens then referenced a study from Everytown, the largest gun violence prevention organization in America, that outlines possible solutions to gun violence in schools, such as:
- Safe storage of firearms
- Teaching people to look for warning signs of potential violence
- Avoiding practices that harm and traumatize students
- Creating a safe and trusting environment for students
While this item was meant for discussion only, Board President Cameron Bryan said the board would like to exhaust all options with the City of Southlake in terms of filling the gaps in SRO coverage before considering any action on any type of program.
“If we just absolutely can’t come to some sort of resolution [with Southlake PD], then we’re going to have to bring this back to the board for consideration,” Bryan said.
