HARLINGEN — Classes opened Monday as city and school officials continued negotiating a proposed agreement aimed at providing the district with heightened security amid community concerns.
In the meantime, the two parties are planning to reinstate their past agreement, which assigned four full-time and five part-time officers to the district.
That agreement expired last month.
Now, district officials are negotiating with the Primera and Combes police departments to provide part-time officers after finalizing a similar agreement with Cameron County, Danny Castillo, the district’s director of emergency management and school safety, said Monday.
“It’s another resource in developing partnerships,” he said. “It’s important to have them because they become familiar with campuses, staff and emergency procedures. In the event of an incident, they know how to effectively communicate.”
Negotiating key proposals
Since July 28, city and school officials have been negotiating a proposed agreement in which the city is calling on the district to start a police department while the district is requesting the city boost its number of assigned full-time officers from four to nine.
“They’re still in discussions,” Assistant City Manager Josh Ramirez said. “The city attorney’s still reviewing the agreement with the school district attorney. There’s language they’re proposing so it’s coming back to the commission. The request from the school district is to assure they had additional officers and we continue to request the creation of a police department.”
As part of the city’s proposal, the Harlingen Police Department would help the district “take steps” to start a police force, Chief Michael Kester told commissioners during a meeting last month.
Earlier this month, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said pulling off five more full-time officers from the department employing 139 officers would “impact the community.”
On Wednesday, city commissioners are set to consider reinstating the parties’ past agreement through next month, when officials expect to have finalized a new security contract.
District, county agreement
Last week, school officials announced their new agreement with Cameron County, which allows the district to assign off-duty sheriff’s deputies and deputy constables to campuses.
“The district will have off-duty deputies on an as-needed basis,” Castillo said.
As part of the agreement, the district will pay overtime to deputies and deputy constables who want the job.
Teaming up with Primera, Combes
Now, district officials are negotiating with Primera and Combes to draft agreements in which the cities would allow their off-duty officers to work school security.
“We want to have these as an additional option,” Castillo said. “It’s (based on) the availability of these off-duty officers. It depends on how many we would need.”
Both the Primera and Combes police department employ nine officers.
Reinstating past contract
For years, city and school officials have entered into annual agreements through which the city assigns four full-time officers to the district, which pays their salaries.
The agreement also allows the district to hire five off-duty officers, for which it pays overtime.
“HCISD has discretion on whether to reduce or request additional part-time (officers) depending on current events, school cancellations or critical incidents,” the proposed agreement states. “HPD will fill these positions depending on officer availability.”
As part of the job, the officers undergo an “active-shooter training course designed to teach officers tactics specifically in a school environment,” the proposed agreement states.
Along with the city’s four full-time officers and five part-time officers, the school district assigns 50 security officers to work under Castillo, a former Harlingen police chief and city commissioner, Brianna Vela Garcia, the district’s spokeswoman, said.
This school year, the district’s also operating a “surveillance room” in which officials are monitoring hundreds of surveillance cameras across 31 campuses, she said.
Background
As schools open across the country, security’s at the forefront of community concerns.
Since the May 24 Uvalde school massacre, Harlingen residents here have been calling for heightened security at the school district with nearly 18,000 students, raising concerns during the city’s June town hall meeting and at a district community meeting last month.
