HARLINGEN — As city and school officials enter their fourth week of negotiations, their past agreement is putting Harlingen police officers on campuses to help provide security amid community concerns stemming from the Uvalde shootings.
Earlier this week, city commissioners reinstated an agreement assigning four full-time officers and five off-duty officers to the school district.
The agreement will remain effective through Sept. 9, giving commissioners time to consider any school district proposals.
“We don’t want to leave the students and the staff at HCISD without any of HPD’s support so for that reason and for that reason alone we are, as a commission, wanting to allow you to extend the existing (agreement) to give us time to continue those negotiations,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda told City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez during a meeting Wednesday.
Meanwhile, city officials are assigning more officers to campuses, Gonzalez told commissioners.
“We did cover every campus of the school district with police for traffic control even though we weren’t asked to do so,” he said during the meeting.
The agreement
For years, city and school officials have entered into annual agreements assigning four full-time officers to the district, which pays their salaries.
As part of the agreement, the city also allows five off-duty officers the chance to work school security in exchange for the district’s overtime pay.
“HCISD has discretion on whether to reduce or request additional part-time (officers) depending on current events, school cancellations or critical incidents,” the agreement states. “HPD will fill these positions depending on officer availability.”
Key negotiating points
On July 28, commissioners proposed the school district start a police department.
As part of the proposal, the Harlingen Police Department would help the district “take steps” to start a police force, Police Chief Michael Kester said.
“They did not approve the version of this commission and now have sent additional changes to that and this in no shape or form is any agreement on a (memorandum of understanding),” Sepulveda said during the meeting, referring to the reinstated agreement.
In response to the city’s proposal, district officials are requesting the city allow its off-duty police officers to work school security in exchange for overtime pay, Brianna Vela Garcia, the district’s spokeswoman, said Thursday.
At City Hall, officials are concerned police officers working school security for overtime pay could “over-work” themselves, Assistant City Manager Josh Ramirez said.
“One of the things we don’t want to do is over-stress the officers,” he said Thursday. “Police work is a lot of work. You have to be on top of your game. We have to make sure … we don’t have employees over-worked with too many hours.”
District entering into security pacts
At district offices, Vela Garcia said school officials are proposing the city enter into an agreement similar to those the district is working out with Cameron County and the cities of Primera and Combes.
Last week, school officials announced a new agreement with Cameron County which allows off-duty sheriff’s deputies and deputy constables to work school security in exchange for the district’s overtime pay.
Meanwhile, district officials are working with Primera and Combes on similar agreements, Vela Garcia said.
As part of those agreements, the district could request off-duty officers and deputies “on an as-needed basis,” Danny Castillo, the district’s director of emergency management and school safety, said.
Mulling options in case talks break down
Meanwhile, city officials are considering options in case negotiations break down.
“What if they come back and they refuse to negotiate in good faith?” Commissioner Frank Morales questioned during Wednesday’s meeting.
In response, Gonzalez said officials were preparing to discuss such a scenario behind closed doors.
“That’s a different item,” he told Morales. “We’re actually going to discuss that in executive session so you’ll have a chance to ask the question.”
Commissioners did not discuss the matter in open session.
“Whatever it is they come back with, if those are concerns, that’s something that we can consider at the next commission meeting,” Sepulveda told commissioners, referring to any district proposals.
Steps bolstering security
Along with the city’s four full-time officers and five off-duty officers, the school district hires 50 security personnel to work under Castillo, a former Harlingen police chief and city commissioner, Vela Garcia said.
This school year, district officials are also operating a “surveillance room,” monitoring hundreds of surveillance cameras across 31 campuses, she said.
Background
As schools open across the country, security has risen to the forefront of community concerns.
Since the May 24 Uvalde school massacre, Harlingen residents 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.
