Round Rock ISD's top police official is gone again. District officials confirmed that LaTriesha Grandy has left her post as police chief, and the district has already tapped an interim replacement while it searches for a permanent hire.
According to KEYE, a district spokesperson confirmed Grandy's departure but did not provide additional details about why she left or when her last day was. Anne Drabicky, Round Rock ISD's chief of public affairs and communications, told the station that Sergeant Lisa Cleere is now serving as interim police chief while administrators work to hire a new department leader.
Grandy had only been with the district since March 2025, when she joined as assistant chief of police. She brought 20 years of law enforcement experience to the role, including stints as the inaugural police chief for Maud ISD and as chief of police at Wiley University, according to background posted by Round Rock ISD. She was elevated to interim chief before her exit this month.
A Department That Keeps Changing Hands
Grandy had served as assistant chief under Chief Ryan Urrutia, who took over the department in September 2024 after 28 years with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. Urrutia's hiring, reported at the time by KVUE, came as the department tried to stabilize following a string of earlier executive exits.
Those earlier exits include former Chief Dennis Weiner, who filed a lawsuit against the district in November 2024 under the Texas Whistleblower Act. Weiner alleged he was pushed out after reporting that district administrators delayed notifying police about an alleged sexual assault of a 5-year-old student on a school bus, according to Texas Scorecard. Hoodline previously covered Weiner's abrupt exit in May 2024, shortly after he sent a letter detailing his allegations.
The department has also faced state-level scrutiny. A June 2023 audit by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement found that Round Rock ISD had failed to complete required pre-employment background checks before commissioning top department leadership, including for Weiner and former assistant chief Rosemarie White, Texas Scorecard reported. The district established its own standalone police force in 2018-2019, replacing campus security services that had previously been handled by local city police and county sheriff's offices.
New Chief Steps In With K-9 Background
Cleere is a veteran sergeant and K-9 handler within the Round Rock ISD Police Department who has represented the force at community safety events, including outreach work alongside K-9 officer Freckles, per the district. Round Rock ISD sergeants and officers are responsible for maintaining safety across the district's campuses, facilities, and staff, a role that now falls to Cleere on an interim basis as administrators search for a permanent replacement.
That search unfolds against a backdrop of statewide pressure on school police staffing. Under Texas House Bill 3, enacted in September 2023, every Texas school district is legally required to assign at least one armed security officer to every campus during regular school hours, though districts can claim temporary good-cause exceptions for funding or staffing shortages. A February 2025 legislative report cited by the Texas Tribune found that more than half of Texas school districts failed to meet that mandate, citing funding shortfalls and statewide law enforcement recruitment shortages.
Round Rock ISD's police department oversees a sprawling territory: 110 square miles across Williamson and Travis counties, encompassing between 59 and 60 campuses serving more than 46,000 students in Round Rock, Austin, and Cedar Park, according to U.S. Department of Education data. The district is also planning for a changing future — a demographic report presented to the Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees in April projected a 10.7% decline in student enrollment over the next decade, driven by shifting local demographics and delayed parenthood, per Community Impact. Enrollment is projected to fall from about 45,950 students this school year to roughly 41,015 by 2035-36.
For now, Cleere leads a department still finding its footing after years of turnover at the top, while district administrators work to identify a permanent successor to Grandy.
