BRYAN, Texas – A Bryan Independent School District (Bryan ISD) security officer is the third armed Texas school security guard in as many months to be fired for leaving his firearm unattended at the school he was hired to protect.
The incident happened March 5 when a contracted security officer at Johnson Elementary School left their gun and holster in a nurse’s bathroom, reports KBTX. The duty belt was discovered by a staff member and was not touched by a student.
The contract security officer who was assigned to Johnson Elementary by TNT Security Solutions was terminated by the company following the incident. A new security officer has been assigned to the campus.
The Bryan ISD incident follows two similar incidents at Fort Bend ISD schools. The first Fort Bend ISD incident happened in January in a staff bathroom at Sullivan Elementary. The second incident happened in February in an empty classroom at Sugar Mill Elementary. Both armed security officers were recently hired by two private security companies.
All school districts in the state of Texas are now required by law (Texas House Bill 3 [HB 3]) to have at least one armed security officer at each of its campuses during school hours. However, many had difficulty hiring more police officers to fill the positions, particularly for their elementary schools. To address this gap, many districts have hired armed contract security officers rather than police offices to protect their elementary campuses.
