Del Valle ISD school board votes to create police department
DEL VALLE, Texas - Del Valle ISD will soon have its own police department.
It’s something they’ve been talking about for a while and during Tuesday night’s meeting, the school board gave its approval to create the Del Valle ISD Police Department.
The item was moved up on the agenda because several students wanted to show their support for the proposal.
RELATED: Manor ISD starts police department, chief search underway
One of them asked the board to quote, “please give us enhanced security and safety.”
One of the presenters was David Lopez, Del Valle ISD High School’s assistant principal who was also a former police officer. He opened by addressing what the timeline would look like.
He says the plan for Del Valle ISD PD is organized in three phases, the longest being phase one, which is already in progress.
DOWNLOAD THE FOX 7 AUSTIN NEWS APP FOR YOUR MOBILE DEVICE
A couple of board members proposed to table the vote until a new superintendent was chosen. Another asked if liability would be an issue. Some asked if they could postpone making a decision for a month.
Del Valle ISD School Board member Desireé Ybarra said, “Based on what we’ve been told to get all of our ducks in a row, holding off for one month should not stop us from starting in August. Staff and the community have a right to have an understanding of why we’re doing what we are doing.”
The decision ended up being approved. Lopez says they would like to post jobs next month so they can begin implementing the department this summer.