HARLINGEN — After more than a month of bargaining, school leaders are reviewing the city’s proposal as the parties work toward finalizing an agreement aimed at heightening security across the district’s campuses.
Earlier this week, city commissioners met in closed session to come up with their latest proposal.
“We are still in negotiations at this time,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda stated Thursday.
At district offices, officials are getting closer to finalizing the agreement, Shane Strubhart, the associate superintendent for community engagement, said.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “The city made some changes. The attorneys are looking it.”
Proposal
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.
Then 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.
In response to the city’s proposal, district officials have requested 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.
But city officials are concerned police officers working school security for overtime pay could “over-work” themselves, Assistant City Manager Josh Ramirez said.
Heightened 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 Danny Castillo, the district’s director of emergency management and school safety, Vela Garcia said.
This school year, district officials are also operating a “surveillance room,” monitoring hundreds of surveillance cameras across 31 campuses, she said.
So far, officials have been working on agreements with Cameron County and the cities of Primera and Combes to allow off-duty sheriff’s deputies and deputy constables to work school security in exchange for the district’s overtime pay.
As part of those agreements, the district could request off-duty officers and deputies “on an as-needed basis,” Castillo, a former Harlingen police chief and city commissioner, said.
Background
In communities across the country, school security has risen to the forefront of residents’ 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 in July.
