The current Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Gladewater and Gladewater ISD on School Resource Officers was nearing its expiration date – the district proposed a revamped version Monday night.
Unanimously approved by the board with no discussion Sept. 21, the expanded agreement now heads to City of Gladewater officials for revisions, consideration and possible adoption next month.
With the existing MOU timing out Sept. 30, the school’s trustees also unanimously approved a one-month extension this week. That measure sets the end-date at Nov. 1 under the same terms (for the most part) while negotiations proceed on the latest iteration.
The item on the district’s monthly agenda to “consider MOU Gladewater PD” was split into two pieces during the meeting – the first to extend the 2025-2026 MOU on an interim basis.
“I had a conversation with Chief (Kyle) Ready. We agreed that would be a good step, to continue what we currently have,” GISD Supt. Rae Ann Patty reported, albeit with one key caveat: Sgt. David Willeford’s retirement leaves no SRO on the Gladewater Middle School campus.
Following the meeting, Patty said the GMS security will be covered by a new employee.
“Right now we are looking to hire a person to come in and be a Guardian/Marshal.”
On July 20, the board re-upped their ‘Good Cause Resolution’ from the Texas Association of School Board’s for the school’s Guardian program.
“The Good Cause Resolution really just protects us for the Guardian program for two things,” Patty told the trustees in two months back. “If we determine that the district does not have the funds to keep a licensed peace officer at every campus then we have this good cause exception in place that we could use our Guardian program. Also, it protects us if for some reason we had to change officers, and they are not considered a licensed peace officer.”
“Each year we have to renew that so we can revisit whether we feel like we have the money to continue with licensed peace officers or we need to implement the Guardian program.”
Notably, she told the school’s elected officials, this year’s resolution renewal was paired with a plan to extend the Guardian program on the campuses.
“We have some people that, even in addition to the officers, would like to be guardians,” Patty confirmed July 20. “Of course, none of that would be approved until they went through all of the information that we had to go through with the previous guardians then they would be brought to you for final approval.”
The proposed MOU is a substantially heavier document than its predecessors – the proposal comes to 13 pages, including the signature page, at a smaller font, compared to the standing six-page agreement.
“The goals and objectives have not changed from the current MOU to this MOU,” Patty said, walking the trustees and audience members through the proposal. “I have ran this whole MOU through our school district attorney to double-check all of my citations and that what we have in here is legal through the Texas Education Code, through the Texas Administrative Code and he did check to see if there was anything in here in the penal code.
“In this interlocal contract and compliance with funding, none of this information changes – we still pay 100 percent of their salaries, their benefits. Chain of command, they still are City of Gladewater PD employees…”
Per the proposal, the GISD superintendent (or designee) determines in advance which district activities SROs respond to for safety and security purposes while the officer is on assignment at GISD.
Compensation reflects the figures in the current agreement – GPD previously requested an increase for the officers, but similar pay changes are on-hold for the sake of City Halls “stability budget” for 2026-2027.
The proposal includes a previously-agreed bump from $35 per hour to $45 for extracurricular and after-hours activities, coordinated by the superintendent. It’s the same rate for summer school hours (falling outside the SROs typical 10-month year).
Among various changes, the school will continue to provide patrol vehicles for the SROs, but they will remain at school. They’ll also be equipped with trackers.
Elsewhere, “We cannot routinely use the officers for truancy enforcement but as a last resort,” Patty said.
The agreement also confirms the SROs are limited to law enforcement matters, not school discipline. Multiple elements defer to GPD policies and procedures.