Boles, Campbell schools to receive security help

Brad Kellar, The Herald Banner, Greenville, Texas
·2 min read

Aug. 27—Two Hunt County school districts will have law enforcement officers patrolling their campuses this school year thanks to the Sheriff's Office and the Commissioners Court.

Sheriff Terry Jones approached commissioners Tuesday to discuss the cost of adding school resource officers for the coming year in the Boles and Campbell Independent School Districts.

"This has been on my mind, and probably on everybody's minds, since Uvalde," Jones said, referring to the May 24 mass shooting at an elementary school in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.

Jones said he had been approached by the superintendents of both districts about providing officers at the schools.

Campbell and Boles are the only schools in the county that don't have law enforcement officers, Jones said, adding that although the Celeste does not have any officers either, its campuses are just a short distance from the police department.

"Campbell and Boles, we're their first line of defense," Jones said. "They don't have any officers in their schools."

Neither district has enough money in their budgets to pay for the officers. Jones said he and the superintendents estimated it would cost approximately $150,000 per district to have an officer available for the coming year, with the county paying half, or $75,000 per district.

"It will actually be a police officer, in the school, fully uniformed, fully equipped," Jones said. The officer would be under the direction of the Sheriff's Office and not the school districts but would be available to interact with the students on a daily basis.

At the end of the school day, and during the summer, the deputies would roll back into patrol duties.

As it stands, the two districts currently have few resources to deal with an armed incident should one occur and no resources to pay for other security.

"This is very, very important. They have no more money, they do not," Jones said. "This is just something that has to be done."

County Judge Bobby Stovall said he would instruct the county's attorney and lawyers with each school district to draft necessary agreements. In a unanimous vote, commissioners approved tapping $200,000 from contingency funding by a unanimous vote.

"We are going to pray this never occurs, but we are going to do our dead level best to prepare for it," Jones said.