Henrietta ISD and the Henrietta community have always taken school safety seriously. This year, the Texas Legislature passed legislation requiring school districts across the state to provide armed personnel at every campus. Unfortunately the state did not provide the funding necessary to meet the requirements of the law they passed. In HISD, filling those positions is further complicated because the town of Henrietta does not have a police department, which is how many districts provide armed security.
To ensure each of our facilities is a safe place for students to learn and staff to work, and to meet the requirements of the law passed, HISD has started its own district police department. This is not uncommon for districts to do, but it is new to HISD, so I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you more about this new district service.
Last year we hired HISD Police Chief Kenny Nash to lead our department and put in place a guardian program to provide armed security at each of our campuses. Because of Chief Nash’s experience as a member of the sheriff’s department prior to joining HISD, he already has a strong relationship with our law enforcement community, which helps us ensure we have the right resources in place to keep our campuses safe. We are also identifying new opportunities to host officers on our campuses, like providing them with a free meal in our cafeteria if they stop by our schools.
I am proud of the progress we have made in a very short time, and I am grateful for the commitment our community has to supporting our school district.