SMCISD Police Force Committee to evaluate school marshal program

The San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District implemented the School Marshal Program at the beginning of the school year in response to a lack of available School Resource Officers from the city and Texas legislation requiring an armed guard on every school campus. A committee has been formed specifically to evaluate the efficacy of the program throughout time and any viable alternatives, according to district officials. The SMCISD Board of Trustees held a discussion regarding the charge and expectations for the Police Force Committee at the regularly scheduled meeting on Jan 16.

SMCISD Board of Trustees President Anne Halsey said the School Marshal Program was voted in favor of at a previous meeting in 2023. The committee will also research alternatives in use by other schools and the associated costs in order to implement what Halsey called a “holistic approach” to evaluating school safety programs.

SMCISD At-Large Trustee Mari Salmi made a motion to have the committee meet and make a schedule that culminated in presenting the research findings in Jan. 2025, which the board of trustees voted in favor of five to two.

SMCISD Chief of Operations Bernie Sandoval said the committee will have its first meeting in Feb.

“Administration will bring all the data … about other school districts. We’ll bring you the financials that we’ve been able to get so far,” Sandoval said. “I think everybody [on the committee] should spend a day on a campus with a marshal, follow them and see what they do.”

Halsey said SMCISD Trustee District-3 Sandra Sepulveda Lopez, Salmi and SMCISD Trustee District-4 Brian Shanks represent the board of trustees on the committee. There are three members from administrative staff as well as three parents that are knowledgeable about the school marshal program.

Halsey explained the background for the discussion that took place during the meeting in an interview with the San Marcos Daily Record.

“Right now we have SMPD School Resource Officers at the high school and the middle schools, and we’ve asked in the past. We’ve actually approved additional SRO positions,” Halsey said, adding that School Resource Officers are funded equally between the city and the school district. “The city doesn’t have additional SROs to give us, which was really the background for why we put together the Marshal Program in the first place. We really wanted to have SROs on all campuses, but that’s not feasible at the moment. So we looked at the Marshall plan as an alternative, and that was actually before the legislation that now requires us to have an armed officer at every campus.”

Halsey said in lieu of being able to put an SRO at every campus, the board decided to do a three-year trial for the School Marshal Program.

During the discussion on Jan. 16, Salmi thought the board discussion should focus on a timeline for evaluation of the School Marshal Program.

“I would propose that we give this body time as well as take the recommendation that we have some time to see how the Marshal Program — how effective it’s been and how we can evaluate it after certainly its first year,” Salmi said. “I think it should … give that body time to get the data it needs to get [and] to have spaced out meetings that people can attend and contribute to.”

Halsey said that public opinion appeared to be in favor of the Marshal Program after it was made clear that teachers would not be armed.

“I’ve had a number of people come up and tell me they’re very comfortable with the person that’s on their campus, and they find that to be a good solution,” Halsey said. “We did say at the beginning that it would be a three-year program that we were going to implement and then look at it, so I want to make sure that we’re doing that with fidelity, [but] I don’t think means that we can’t simultaneously study other alternatives. I just want to be thoughtful and considerate about how we’re doing that, and also making sure that we’re giving plenty of time for community members to weigh in beyond the people that are necessarily on the committee.”

More information on the school marshal program can be found at sanmarcosrecord. com/news/ school-marshal-program- moves-development- phase.