The Moulton Eagle
Moulton ISD
Moulton City Council

Top execs for the city, school to negotiate terms for full time Moulton school officer

  • Daniel Beyer speaking at the 2019 Moulton School Reunion, as board president and police chief.
    Daniel Beyer speaking at the 2019 Moulton School Reunion, as board president and police chief.

    Both the Moulton school district and the city have agreed to let their top managers hammer out the details of what it might take to bring full time police officer to Moulton school campus in the future.

    The council met Tuesday, Oct. 11, and in one of the items they decided that night, city administrator LuAnn Rogers was authorized to negotiate the matter on the city’s behalf when it comes to supplying the school with a police officer.

    The Moulton school board met the following night, deciding that superintendent Renee Fairchild should do likewise for the school. The school can’t currently hold a commission for a paid police officer, it was noted. For that, the school must rely on the city or some other outside jurisdiction. 

    Much will need to be determined before such an agreement, city officials said Tuesday, for when this person might be expected to work. 

    Would it be simply a school days-only agreement, or might that person need to be there after hours as well? Events such as school basketball games on weeknights were raised as viable weeknight possibilities, for instance, as was the school’s livestock show or UIL departures for the weekends. 

    And what of summer months? If the officer is available then, can the city count on that person their scheduling needs, or would he/she become exclusively dedicated to the school? What happens if this person should become ill or injured? Is the city then responsible for supplying another officer?

    They would also need to decide upon a set salary and determine which entity would be responsible for what. Everything police-related falls on the back of the city now, from general supplies and salaries to a few pieces of their gear, patrol cars and uniforms. 

    Things like benefits packages, use of a patrol vehicle and procedures for removing that person, should things not work out at the school. And what might that mean for the officer who was assigned that duty?

    Fairchild agreed there are still many unknowns, but word from the superintendent camps is that the state will free up some funding to help schools get a full time police officer on their campuses if they don’t have one already.

    How much that might be remains to be seen. 

    As soon as it happens, however, Fairchild said she likes to have things in place with the city and many of these finer points agreed to already so that they can move swiftly, when that time comes. Last week’s votes by both entities makes that possible.