Several security personnel positions have opened at the Dallas ISD Police Department, with salaries starting at $39,230.
Dallas ISD police have rolled out a new recruitment campaign for commissioned security officers to help “ensure safety and security” across the district’s 240 campuses during the 2024-2025 school year. The department currently has around 200 police officers, security officers, and administrative staff, which coordinate with Dallas ISD’s School Safety, Monitoring, and Resources Department (SSMR).
SSMR was formed after Dallas ISD struggled to comply with a new state law requiring an assigned school resource officer or certified security officer at every publicly funded campus in Texas.
The commissioned security officer job, which boasts a median salary of $47,872, would entail performing the following duties while adhering to all relevant district policies and standards:
- preventing and detecting safety hazards and criminal activity
- patrolling campus exterior and interior areas
- resolving conflicts between students, personnel, and all others on campus
- helping restrain, apprehend, and escort disruptive or arrested individuals
To be eligible for hire, a candidate must satisfy various requirements, including:
- being 21 years old or older
- holding a high school diploma or GED
- holding a Texas Department of Public Safety Level III Security License
- being trained in subduing offenders, using a firearm, de-escalating conflicts, and more
- submitting to a criminal background check, drug test, medical exam, and psychological exam
Those who are interested in applying can do so here. New hires will receive a $2,000 hiring bonus and a $5,000 carrying stipend, pending next year’s budget approval by Dallas ISD’s board of trustees.
As covered by The Dallas Express, district officials have been trying to cut the budget, which is currently projected to land at around $1.9 billion, partly due to the new state-mandated security measures, new gear for police and security staff, modest salary increases for teachers and staff, and no increased state taxpayer spending on public education coming out of the last legislative session. Dallas ISD is purportedly facing a shortfall of roughly $186 million.
Ahead of presenting a final budget proposal to the Dallas ISD school board in May, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde and other district officials will be looking to allocate resources in an efficient way that makes the goal of providing “a safe, quality education” to students a top priority, per a news release.
Dallas ISD has struggled academically for years, with the latest accountability report from the Texas Education Agency showing that only 41% of Dallas ISD students scored at grade level on the 2021-2022 STAAR exam, and almost 20% of graduating seniors failed to earn a diploma within four years.
Safety concerns on district campuses have also been amplified recently by a student-involved shooting at Dallas ISD’s Wilmer-Hutchins High School. Some students at the school recently organized a walkout in protest of lax security protocols.
