As part of the unanimously approved consent agenda, Northwest ISD board of trustees approved a contract with Lone Star Protection and Security LLC at the board meeting Jan. 8 to perform security services at several elementary schools.

The details

According to district documents, the company will provide armed security guard services at the following schools:

• Prairie View Elementary
• Sendera Ranch Elementary
• Haslet Elementary
• Peterson Elementary
• Hughes Elementary

District documents state that the term of the contract is from Jan. 9 through Aug. 31. The board has the ability to extend the agreement with three one-year extensions.

The backstory

Northwest ISD board of trustees voted unanimously during their Aug. 15 meeting to enter into contracts for security guard services with five different companies, of which Lone Star Protection and Security was one.

At that meeting, Superintendent Mark Foust said the need to contract with the companies came as a response to House Bill 3, which requires school boards across the state to ensure at least one armed security officer is present during regular school hours at each campus.

Foust added that the district currently has school resource officers on all of its secondary campuses, but that the $15,000 per campus that the state has allotted is “not nearly enough” to provide for a full-time certified police officer on each of the elementary campuses.

At the Aug. 15 meeting, Tim McClure, assistant superintendent for facilities, mentioned that a typical school resource officer costs anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 a year per campus.

According to district documents, the five companies will be providing security guard services at all of the district’s 22 elementary schools.