WOODWAY, Texas — “Safety and security for our students and staff is paramount and we will make sure that we will always be putting that at the front of everything that we do. We’re always looking for ways to enhance safety and security and make sure we’re getting better and better,” said Midway ISD Assistant Superintendent Aaron Pena.
Midway ISD school board voted Tuesday night to create their own district police department.
It's a plan the board said will end up saving lives and saving taxpayer dollars.
“And that just led us to start thinking perhaps it’s time to start considering starting our own police department and of course there are lots of benefits to doing so. For example, we’ll be able to tailor the entire program to meet the specific needs of our district,” Pena said.
Adding up to a chief of police, four officers and eight campus safety specialists.
“They will also be able to help us into the summer to help us with our summer school programs and with different athletic events that we have throughout the summer and so the scheduling is going to be really beneficial for us to have them as our police officers,” Pena said.
It will cost the district more than $800,000 which is actually $90,000 less than the current safety plan.
Midway ISD Superintendent Chris Allen said a district police force holds many benefits.
“So for example if we wanted our officers to help us do hallways sweeps and bathroom sweeps to reduce the number of vapes that are taking place at the high school, we could do that whereas right now that’s not the standard practice,” Allen said.
The new officers will be armed in compliance with new state laws.
They'll also enforce speed limits in school zones and be allowed to issue citations.
