Fort Worth Police veteran to serve as first School Security Officer in Burleson district

Curt Brannan, a 30-year Fort Worth Police veteran, will serve as the first School Security Officer at the Burleson school district after the board of trustees approved the new position earlier this month.

The district plans on hiring at least nine more former law enforcement officials to serve as armed security officers at each elementary campus in addition to expanding the number of School Resource Officers working with the district to 11.

The move comes as districts across the state continue to beef up security in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde in May.

According to a district press release, Brannan is a former homicide detective who worked on several high-profile cases in Fort Worth, including the shootings at the Tarrant County Courthouse, the Glass Key, and the Wedgwood Baptist Church.

“Hiring experienced law enforcement professionals is crucial to the overall success of our school security plan, and we are confident that Mr. Brannan is the expert we need to guide us as we move forward with our program,” Burleson Superintendent Bret Jimerson said in a statement.

Brannan has lived in Burleson for more than 35 years with children and grandchildren who attended and graduated from Burleson schools.

“The mission is simple: protect our teachers and students at the elementary schools we are assigned,” he said in a statement. “There are a lot of highly-qualified applicants with many years of training and law enforcement experience who are applying to be a part of this team.”

The district is one of only 67 in Texas that has an emergency operations plan deemed “sufficient” by the Texas School Safety Center, which provides research, training and technical assistance for K-12 schools and junior colleges by law.

Burleson is also one of 200 districts with a viable active shooter program, according to a release from the district.

This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 5:36 PM.