29 deputies to patrol Tomball ISD schools by October with contract update

Nine student resource officers will be added to Tomball ISD’s law enforcement team by October after trustees unanimously approved an update to the district’s contract with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office on Aug. 8.

A closer look

On Aug. 15, the first day of the 2023-24 school year for TISD, 20 Precinct 4 deputies will be patrolling the district, Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said Aug. 8.

• By no later than October, Precinct 4 will add nine more officers so at least one officer can patrol each of the district’s 23 campuses, according to an emailed statement from TISD on Aug. 9.
• District officials said the contract will proceed to Harris County Commissioners Court for approval.

On June 14, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3 into law, requiring at least one armed security officer to be on all public school campuses during regular school hours.

“We have had safe and secure schools in the past,” Salazar-Zamora said. “I look forward to that continuing and even being more so as the law does lean towards that, and I believe TISD has been going in this direction for some time.”

In case you missed it

The Precinct 4 Constable's Office began supplementing officers at TISD campuses in the spring following the termination of a contract between the district and the city of Tomball to provide school resource officers. The district’s initial agreement with the constable’s office was approved Jan. 10, as previously reported by Community Impact.