On Monday, the Canyon Independent School District (CISD) board of trustees voted to continue its guardian program and expand the number of staff participating in the initiative. The program, adopted last school year, was implemented in response to state legislation requiring armed personnel to be present on every Texas school campus.
Canyon ISD operates 20 campuses across Randall County and parts of Amarillo, making the task of providing adequate coverage a complex effort. Superintendent Darryl Flusche explained that while the district has increased the number of school resource officers (SROs), there remains a need for trained school employees to step into guardian roles.
“We survey our staff and see if someone is interested in that, and then they go through [a] pretty rigorous filter, if you will, to determine are they suitable for that kind of position,” Flusche said. “And then we contract with a training system so that all of our people are trained identically in the various phases of what they would need to do, should there be an incident on the campus.”
The guardian program allows selected district employees, who undergo extensive background checks and training, to carry firearms on school property as part of the district’s security plan. While the details of who participates are not made public for safety reasons, the program is designed to serve as a safeguard in the event of an emergency where law enforcement response may be delayed.
In addition to the guardian program, the district has recently added more SROs to strengthen its security presence. Flusche noted that five additional officers from the Amarillo Police Department, Randall County Sheriff’s Office, and Canyon Police Department were assigned to the district this school year.
“We have five additional school resource officers from Amarillo Police Department and or Randall County and or Canyon Police Department, so a total of five additional school resource officers,” Flusche said. “So, we only have a few campuses who don’t have a full-time school resource officer on their side every day.”
Amarillo Police Department Sgt. Carla Burr explained that APD specifically provides SROs for Canyon ISD high schools and junior high campuses within Amarillo city limits. These officers not only provide a visible law enforcement presence but also serve as first responders to any situation that arises on campus.
“Our job is to be there on campus, be the law enforcement, be there for protecting the kids from outside, also for handling things that happen on the campus,” Burr said. “It’s important that we can train together as much as possible, so that we all kind of are on the same page as far as how to respond in some kind of an incident in the schools.”
The collaboration between guardians and SROs highlights Canyon ISD’s layered approach to school safety. District officials emphasized that while officers provide professional law enforcement, trained guardians ensure that every campus has immediate access to armed protection.
