Southlake’s Carroll ISD is considering a school security program next year that would allow certain employees to carry a firearm on campuses as they grapple with meeting the state’s requirement to equip schools with armed officers.
Trustees at Monday’s board meeting discussed how a school marshal program would help bring armed employees to school campuses.
After Texas’ deadliest school shooting in Uvalde, state lawmakers required school districts to supply schools with armed officers and trained staff to provide students with mental health resources. And many school districts are looking for ways to meet that requirement.
The Southlake Department of Public Safety has school resource officers assigned to Carroll ISD schools.
But Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said that since September, the district did not meet the state obligation 10 times, or 1% of the time.
“It’s reasonable,” Glenn said. “Police officers get sick, they take personal days, they have occasional absences just like everybody else.”
He said that means marshals are an option for when these instances occur.
“Ultimately, Carroll ISD is still required under law to have an armed officer on each campus every day for the duration of time students are on that campus.”
A school marshal’s purpose is to prevent serious harm or death on school premises and can make arrests. They act only as defined by the written regulations adopted by its school board.
But some parents at the meeting, like Elisha Rurka, raised concerns about who could be hired as a marshal on campuses and the costs that come with it.
“Even talking about starting up an additional program that would definitely have costs associated with it seems like not something we should be doing right now,” Rurka said, “when we’re talking about ... closing campuses and we can’t fund [the special education] program.”
Carroll ISD principals would oversee marshals on a campus level and the superintendent would oversee them on a district level.
Hired marshals must be school district employees and have a valid concealed handgun license, according to a FAQ posted by the district. Those selected would undergo psychological and physical evaluations throughout their service.
They must become a certified marshal by the state and need to be approved by the district’s Board of Trustees.
At the board meeting, trustees raised the possibility of a broader pool to include hiring retired law enforcement or military.
If this school marshal program is passed, up to 10 employees will be required to carry a 9mm pistol loaded with approved ammunition provided by the district. The district would also be responsible for buying equipment like uniforms, firearms, and ammunition and the make and model of the firearm must be on the approved list provided by the Southlake police.
Southlake DPS said in a X post on Monday they were aware of the district’s proposed marshal program.
“The City of Southlake and the Southlake Police Department are committed to providing our schools with the highest levels of safety and security — and have made no reductions or modifications to the Department’s School Resource Officer (SRO) program,” the post read.
Trustee Alex Sexton said the district hopes to improve the school resource officer program — and exhaust all other options before considering the marshal program.
“This is all about planning for things we don’t want to think about,” Sexton said. “But we have to do it. That’s how we protect our students and our teachers and our staff.”
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