By Sylvia Dunnavant Hines
The nation turned its eyes to Texas after the midday massacre last week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde left 19 students and two teachers dead in the course of an hour.
Texas remains the center of attention as President Joe and First Lady Jill Biden visited Uvalde over the weekend and this week the families began having funerals and memorial services for their loved ones.
Although there appears to be more questions than answers regarding school safety with the launch of an investigation into how the shooter was handled, Scott LeMay, the mayor of Garland, is relying on efforts made by their School Resource Officer (SRO) program to continue providing safety for Garland ISD students.
“I have high confidence in our SRO program and in the way that it has operated over the years,” said LeMay. “It is not just about putting an officer at a school. These officers are embedded in the schools. They know the kids, they know the teachers, and they know the parents. They build relationships with all of them.”
It makes a difference for Garland ISD, which is one of the largest school districts in Dallas County with approximately 56,000 students from 72 campuses; serving the communities of Garland, Rowlett and Sachse.
He added, “You can’t really put a value on this service. These aren’t just police officers stationed at the school, they work with the campus administration as well as with the overall school district.”
Recent federal data shows that approximately 91 percent of SROs are armed, and most carry other restraints as well.
Although nationally the SRO programs began in the 1950s, Garland ISD implemented the program in 1992.
According to former Garland Mayor Ronald Jones, the SRO programs are designed to enhance school safety capabilities.
“I know for a fact that they work when implemented properly,” said Jones, who served three terms. “We started out on a smaller scale and continued to improve the program until it evolved into the program that it is today.
“Even though every school districts has its own security program, in our case it is a partnership between the city of Garland and Garland ISD,”.
With a commitment to keep schools in his district safe, LeMay said that funding for the current SRO program is split between the City of Garland and Garland ISD. This has been the funding structure since the program began.
“Our SRO program offers safety and security at each one of our 72 campuses,” explained Garland ISD board trustee Johnny Beach. “With our SRO officers, we have boots on the ground on our campuses. This provides safety so that when our children come to school, they know that we have someone that has their eyes and ears on the hallways and around the school building in a time of need.”
According to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California, there have been 540 school shooting incidents nationally since 2012; with Texas posting the highest number of incidents in the past 10 years.
Despite those numbers LeMay said he is “very confident” that Garland schools are safe. “Our schools are as safe as we can make them. That being said, I have had conversations with our Chief of Police regarding school safety.
“There is no way that you can prepare for every random act of violence. It is very difficult when it is a lone wolf situation. Therefore, you can’t fortify schools for all absolute situations. Yet, if you follow procedures and protocols, you can make it exceptionally safe,” he added.
And safety is exactly what Trustee Beach says he wants, adding that his heart was broken with grief after hearing about the shooting in the elementary school in Uvalde.
“Our prayers go out to the people of Uvalde. We are here to support them in any way that we can,” said Beach. “Indeed, this is a tragedy that we don’t ever want to see again, anywhere,”
