In December, the Williamson County Commissioners Court allowed a Round Rock school district security proposal to die without a vote, leaving it to create its own police force.
The court did not discuss the item publicly, but in a recent newsletter, Commissioner Terry Cook provided insight into the “many downside issues” with extending the partnership.
“Staffing up and keeping these officers could be a substantial workload for our Sheriff’s staff,” Cook wrote.
Cook said recruiting and training officers for the job would be time consuming and the revenue-neutral contract would strain county staff. She added that the county would be opening itself up to security requests from other districts for school resource officers.
“We could easily be asked to provide 50 (a platoon of) SROs or more,” Cook wrote. “When do you say no more?”
The Round Rock school district requested 27 officers to staff all middle and high school campuses from June 2021 to June 2026.
At a community forum on safety and security in May, Cook expressed support for the partnership but said the district needed to give Sheriff Robert Chody more control over the terms.
The district and the sheriff’s office have disagreed in the past over the placement of officers — leading the district to contract with Austin Community College to cover two middle schools this year — and if the district could mandate certain training for officers.
Chody has since said he would be able to provide the service, and the board met with him to get feedback on a contract before submitting it to the county. Currently, the district has a partnership with both the Round Rock Police Department and the sheriff’s office.
But County Judge Bill Gravell stated at a Sept. 24 Commissioners Court meeting that he had no interest in extending the agreement with the district. Both agencies announced they would terminate the partnership after June 2021.
In 2018, Chody and Police Chief Allen Banks wrote a joint letter pushing the district to create its own police force to address gaps in coverage. The majority of the school board supported the county option.
Many community members have expressed similar sentiments at board meetings over the past year, and two community-led petitions collected hundreds of signatures in favor of the program. Cook said she received 47 emails and phone calls in support of the item.
She acknowledged that a partnership would be a better deal for taxpayers, and that many community members want their current county SRO’s to remain in place.
“I was very grateful to Commissioner Cook for at least putting it out there,” Board President Amy Weir said. “I am personally disappointed that they did not even discuss it.”
Following the county’s decision, the trustees voted to direct staff to continue the process of establishing a district police force.
“They already have the training and expertise,” Weir said. “Law enforcement is what they do. … Now we are going to have to go outside of our core function as a school district.”
Weir said the district will have to submit an application with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement that could take several months and build funding for the department into the budget.
According to the district’s safety and security task force, the commission requires the district to have a secure office for the police chief, room to host the police officers, a holding room, dispatch services and an evidence room — or, at least, a secure safe bolted into the floor for weapons.
At the December meeting, Trustee Nikki Gonzales, who previously voted against the contract with Williamson County, said the board should see this as an opportunity to control what training the officers receive — including specialized training on race and working with children.
Weir said the board is waiting to hear from staff about the next steps.
“I can’t speak for the whole board, I can only speak for myself, but it does seem like the majority of parents wanted armed officers,” she said. “As elected representatives we need to be cognizant of that.”
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