Dona Ana County sheriff's absence stalls Gadsden ISD school resource officer contract
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14) — Dona Ana County commissioners continued to try to provide the Gadsden Independent School District with more school resource officers on Tuesday, but they continued to get pushback from Sheriff Kim Stewart.
The county approved a contract to give GISD five school resource officers, but the sheriff did not show up to Tuesday's meeting.
The county can not move forward without Stewart's approval since she was part of the contract and the officers would be coming from her department.
KFOX14 spoke with GISD parents and family members who said they disagreed with the sheriff's actions.
"She should reconsider the options, I mean, we don’t need this gun violence that has been going on to escalate here in our communities," said Ramiro Levario.
"I wish they can do something about it 'cause I mean it is our kids' safety that we’re all concerned about," said Felipe DelHierro.
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Dona Ana County Commissioner Manuel Sanchez said Stewart left them with few options.
"Now the agreement, we’ll be waiting on the sheriff to sign before it can become fully approved so, at the moment, there will be no movement unless the sheriff decides to sign that agreement," said Sanchez.
The contract was up for approval three weeks ago. Stewart did not show up then either.
The county revised it to accommodate the sheriff in hopes to get her approval on Tuesday.
KFOX14 reached out to Stewart to get a comment and she responded by saying she did not want to waste taxpayers' money.
"I had hoped that maybe she would engage and try to work through some of the concerns she had," said Sanchez.
Sanchez said the county did not have a fallback plan, but they would continue working with the sheriff on this matter.
"We’ll see what the sheriff does, if she doesn’t engage then I guess we’ll have to allow the school district to possibly look at other options," said Sanchez.
Sanchez told KFOX14 he encouraged the community, specifically GISD parents, to reach out to the sheriff's office to express their concerns and needs for SRO.
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