ENNIS — A dispute that is dividing the community of Ennis is centered around a memorandum of understanding to have a school resource officer at Ennis Schools.
On any given day in Ennis, nearly half the town’s population of 1,007 residents can be found inside the town’s schools. So it’s perhaps no surprise—school safety is a big priority.
But conversations about how to pay for a school resource officer are dividing the town.
“I see different people from the community who are trying to educate each other on what they think is happening,” says Greg Ledgerwood, “but I haven’t seen any official things from the commissioners or from the city at all.”
Ledgerwood is the lead pastor at Ennis Assembly of God and one of many community members who feel left in the dark about this debacle.
Mayor Nici Haas approved a memorandum of understanding to assign a resource officer to the school to conduct walkthroughs at the school three times a day.
But others worry that added safety would come at the expense of safety in the greater community:
The community would be covered by law enforcement a third of the time with the luxury of spending the rest of the time at the school watching time pass. Only the taxpayers are on the losing end of this fiasco.
That’s public comment from a meeting last month where the town’s commission was discussing the memorandum and whether Mayor Haas could legally approve the memorandum without the commission’s approval—a decision that now has the commission considering a motion to remove her.
“It seems to be that the past history has been that the mayor was able to do that, so it seems to be a little out of character to be able to remove someone for something that’s been done in the past already,” says Ledgerwood.
Police Chief John Moore agrees. In a statement to the community he writes, “There is no legal basis in the town charter for the extreme measure of removing the mayor from office.”
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Further, Moore says the town isn’t on the hook to pay for the SRO because the district has agreed to reimburse the town for services.
“The school has raised their partnership financially in this, and it seems to still not to be what is needed to remedy the situation. So sometimes I wonder is it really about the finances or is it more about people trying to get rid of somebody,” Ledgerwood says.
Chief Moore also claims an abuse of personal agendas by the commission, which allegedly created a hostile work environment that resulted in the resignation of the last remaining sheriff’s deputy in Madison County.
Many, like Ledgerwood, are just hoping for reconciliation as they anxiously await Thursday’s vote.
“Everybody coming back together and working for the common good of the community would be incredible,” Ledgerwood says. “If there’s some contention about how to move forward, work it out. And figure out how to work together for the future.”
