By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board discussed the increasing responsibilities for the school resource officer at its meeting on Monday.
Hays Police Department resource officer Austin Spencer was hired as the district school resource officer in 2023. He works under a memorandum of understanding between the school district and the Hays Police Department.
Board members expressed concerns about the amount of work Spencer will have when the high school and middle school are both on the same campus on 13th Street starting in January.
Hays Middle School staff will begin moving into the renovated former high school this week, with classes beginning in their new home on Jan. 7.
Hays High School has about 1,100 students, and the middle school has about 650 students.
Spencer said he already covers both schools under his memorandum of understanding with the school district.
To date, he has spent part of one day per week at the middle school and has traveled to the school at the administration's request.
Spencer said he thought having both schools on one campus would make his job more manageable. He said he will be able to spend more time at the middle school because of its proximity to the high school.
He said even walking or running to respond to an incident will always be a quicker response compared to driving across town.
However, several board members expressed concern about Spencer's workload, given the sheer number of students and teachers who will be occupying the combined campus.
For budgeting purposes, board member Ruth Ruder asked whether Spencer thought he would need the assistance of an additional officer to cover the expanded campus.
Spencer said it's a big campus, but he thought he could get anywhere on campus in good time.
Ruder said, "At the end of this next semester, with the campus being full, I would like an updated report."
She said she wanted to know if Spencer ever felt overwhelmed.
"Your job is very, very important to the district," she said. "It is to me."
Board member Jayme Goetz said, "I am a little concerned number-wise because it looks like we are saying you only have to manage two schools. A ratio of 1 to 2 doesn't sound too intimidating, but to me it's really a ratio of 1 to 2,000."
She said she has not heard any concerns. She has only heard praises about Spencer's work thus far.
"My concern is when we have 2,000 students in a very tight area, is one SRO going to be enough?" she asked. "Do we need to be allocating money for that support?"
Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler also attended the meeting.
"I'm like you," he said. "I am a little concerned when we get that many people on that big of a campus."
He also thought a review of the campus's security at the end of the spring semester would be advisable.
"I could see the need. I think Mr. Albers [Hays Middle School principal] would take an SRO for his school," Scheibler said. "We would have to sit down and talk about that."
Spencer said he worked with staff and contractors during the first few weeks of the fall semester to ensure all entrances at the new high school were secure. They also observed and tweaked traffic flow for the new school.
"It went pretty smoothly from my perspective," he said. "I was able to get back fairly quickly into my regular security checks and presentations in classes."
Spencer said more fine-tuning of the traffic flow will be needed as the middle school moves into the former high school in January.
The middle school start and release times will be staggered by 10 minutes compared to the high school. Pick-up and drop-off for the middle school will be in the former Hays High student parking lot on the west side of the school.
The elementary schools participate in an Adopt-A-Cop program that assigns Hays Police officers to schools in the district. The officers stop at the schools randomly to interact with the children. Teachers can also call those officers to give class presentations.
Board member Allen Park asked if DARE was still offered in district schools. Scheibler said no.