Moulton ISD employs uniformed police officer

Moulton schools will soon have a new face around their campuses starting with the new school year, after trustees last month approved hiring an off-duty, uniformed Moulton police officer for the 2022-23 school year. 

Per the agreement passed Wednesday, July 13, the officer will be expected on campus four hours each week and on school grounds at least one day each week, and the officer will get compensated $50 an hour for his/her time. Thing is, no one will ever know which day it might be. Intentionally.

“We will be watching closely what the state does in September with school safety concerns, particularly if they might make funds available for such expenses moving forward,” superintendent Renee Fairchild said.

If that does occur, trustees can expect to see this item come across again to expand that officer’s presence more, moving forward.

Much has been done already to broaden Moulton’s safety protocols. While not at liberty to divulge every item for obvious reasons, they invested in several more security cameras, for example, and projects were underway to inspect all outside doors to ensure all were substantial enough to block out intruders and their locking mechanisms worked properly. 

They also were looking at installing beefier, taller fencing around the school in certain areas. Given the layout of the school—designed as an open campus originally, where students walked to different buildings for lunch and class throughout the day—they’re limited on just how much they can accomplish with fencing, especially with a city street separating parts of campus from the rest.

The school also has an active Guardian Program in place, where teachers who chose to do so can be armed as a preventative measure. Not many chose that course, but a few did and will continue to do so. 

Board president Daniel Beyer, currently serving as interim police chief in Moulton, said he would need to re-examine the paperwork on the school’s Guardian participants. Much like police officers must get re-certified each year, so too should the Guardians. 

At the same July 13 meeting where the board approved hiring the officer, Fairchild raised the possibility of purchasing either tasers and/or pepper spray to be placed at strategic locations around the school so that teachers might have access to them, should the need ever arise. 

While not everybody is prepared to shoot someone dead, she reasoned, most are far more open to jolting an intruder or using a mace-like substance to stop them.

At Beyers suggestion, the school approved pepper spray purchases over the tasers for two reasons. Tasers are expensive—they start at $2,500 each and are good for one use only—and they would need regular upkeep and charging. Not only is pepper spray far more affordable and extremely effective up to 30 feet away, but it also has a much longer shelf life.