MAY 26 School marshals may be coming to Texas schools
San Marcos Texas May 26 2023 School may be nearly out for the summer, but there’s no vacation from examining the district’s existing safety protocols.
This session, state lawmakers have had several school safety priority bills presented to them.
One such bill, House Bill 3, has been approved by the Senate and awaits a second House vote. HB 3 allocates $15,000 to campuses for security enhancements and mandates that the Texas School Safety Center conduct inspections of school buildings at least every five years.
Originally, the bill required armed security officers on every campus. However, this clause was omitted from the bill passed by the Senate, with other provisions remaining. As the legislature deliberates over the bill, local school districts are scrutinizing their plans as well. San Marcos CISD is currently in the planning stages of a school marshal program.
“Too often, people want to reduce this conversation about school marshals too, oh, you just want to arm school teachers. Wrong. The San Marcos Independent School District is not entertaining the idea of arming teachers. They want teachers to teach,” stated San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge.
Standridge was involved in the implementation of the school marshal program in both Abilene ISD and Wylie ISD. The marshal programs in those districts utilize retired police officers and veterans as school marshals. This is the model Standridge advocates for San Marcos.
“Are there enough retired personnel you think that would be willing to do this program here?” CBS Austin asked.
“That’s a great question,” Standridge responded. Standridge maintains that the program’s success will depend on two factors: competitive pay and willingness to serve.
“It was my experience in Abilene that the answer was yes. Many officers were willing to retire or separate to assume the role of school marshal,” Standridge said.
