PGISD looks to establish a district police department

Board approves COVID bonuses

Establishing a police department for Pleasant Grove Independent School District will be considered at Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The board will also consider a one-time bonus payment to teachers and staff at the meeting.

The district will consider a resolution creating a school-based law enforcement after deploying a school resource officer (SRO) program for about 20 years.

But a lot has changed since then.

“When we first started our SRO program with the Texarkana, Texas Police Department, we had three physical campuses and only 1,700 students,” said Bill Harp, PGISD school services director.

“That was over 20 years ago. We’ve had a long-sus

tained, very positive relationship with the police department, and our district has now grown to where we have five physical campuses and 2,300 students. It may be time for us to start moving from a SRO program to a school-based law enforcement set up.”

School-based law enforcement officers have diverse roles and their assignments will vary depending upon the district. Mentoring, teaching, ensuring school safety, as well as work-blended roles in schools, will allow them to engage with students and staff.

Harp said school-based law enforcement officers in a mentoring role can be invaluable to students who need guidance through personal, educational and social pressures that they face.

The board will also consider approving an item to provide compensation to fulltime, permanent employees in light of additional responsibilities assumed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This action would entail a $1,000, one-time payment for teachers, nurses and nurse aides and campus administrators, in addition to a $600, one-time payment for the rest of their employees.

“Our staff has worked extremely hard this school year to provide a world-class education for our students,” according to a statement in the agenda packet. “This year has been challenging due to COVID-19 and our staff have been champions working through these challenges. We would like to show our appreciation to our staff monetarily.”

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Central Services Boardroom, 8500 North Kings Highway.