HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — School safety was the main topic at the Hays CISD special school board meeting Thursday. 

The district expanded its safety and security office to include additional positions that have no other job duties so that they can be fully dedicated to the district’s safety and security responsibilities. 

There will now be two new safety coordinators to assist the district’s chief of safety and security, which is a position that has been elevated to sit on the Superintendent’s cabinet.

Also, the district will add three more school resource officers (SROs).

“Right now we have two SROs per high school and one per middle school,” said Hays CISD superintendent Dr. Eric Wright. “So, this would give us a total of 15, and I think our response time will be less than two minutes.”

The district is also looking to add veterans for an added layer of protection.  

“Veterans are well-trained and they live here in our community, and they care about our kids, so we just want them to be a presence,” said Wright.

The district said the veterans should be on campuses sometime in the fall as they are still working out some logistics.

“It is just one additional layer so that you have people on the lookout for the best interest of our kids and if they see something say something,” said Wright.