Five students from Moisés E. Molina High School have become license-carrying, fully certified security guards thanks to a new Law Enforcement Pathway class.
As part of the school’s nearly seven-year-old Law Enforcement Pathway class, students can now prepare for a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) test that can earn them a license as a Level-II private security guard upon turning age 18.
Five seniors have recently become the very first in Dallas ISD to do so. The students had already earned a certificate of completion in their junior year, which qualified them for licensing senior year, provided they had a state-issued ID and were at least 18 years old.
Earl Felton, a former police officer and first responder, taught the class, which covers everything from the history of law enforcement to hands-on techniques of how to properly use handcuffs and investigate crime scenes.
“One of the biggest points I hit on is making sure they don’t present themselves as police officers and knowing there’s a huge difference between the two roles,” Felton said, according to a news release from Dallas ISD.
The students are not licensed to carry firearms, but once they are 18 years old and licensed by the state, they can seek employment.
“They can work at events, concerts, basketball games, football games,” explained Felton, according to NBC 5 DFW. “Pretty much anybody that hires a Level II security officer who’s interested in hiring an 18-year-old who just got their certification, they can go work for them.”
Jonathan Wright was the first to get hired by a private security company.
“I was the youngest security guard there by a long shot,” Wright told NBC 5. “But I know just as much as them, so I feel that this class has well prepared me for that field.”
Although Wright ultimately wants to become a nurse, his classmate Josue has his eye on law enforcement.
“I always found crime movies and TV shows really fascinating. I want to become a police officer, then work my way up and become a state trooper, or go out of state to be a U.S. Marshal,” he said, according to the news release.
Yet completing the Law Enforcement Pathway program is above all about having more opportunities in the workforce.
“It’s relieving to know I have options,” explained another student named Reynaldo. “An opportunity I’ve gained just from being in the Law Enforcement Pathway is the chance to work with the Sheriff County Jail next summer. I genuinely believe as long as I try to help people out, I won’t have to worry.”
Although Dallas ISD’s student achievement results from the 2022-2023 school year have not been released due to ongoing litigation, the district scored below the state average of 65% with 59% in College, Career, and Military Readiness in 2021-2022, according to the Texas Education Agency’s report.
That same school term, just 41% of students scored at grade level on the STAAR test, and 81.1% of seniors graduated on time.
