MIAMI -- After hours of meetings and protest, a surprise decision by the Miami-Dade County Public School District means a sigh of relief for the school board police department.

During a school board meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Dr. Rudy Crew withdrew a recommendation to cut nearly two dozen positions from the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. The recommendation had been one measure the district was considering as it tried to cut $284 million from the 2008-2009 school year budget before September.

Children, parents and police officers made pleas before the school board. When the decision was announced, dozens of officers gave each other hugs of relief.

"Thank God I still have a job," said employee Serena Devoe. "I have four kids, so I'm just happy."

"I'm just so happy and proud to be here with my fellow brothers and sisters. There's just no words to explain it," said employee Mariza Tangredi.

The school district would have saved a reported $1 million by slashing 11 police officer positions and leaving another six vacant, NBC 6's Tisha Lewis reported.

"If this would've happened today, we would've been the first department in the county and probably in the state to actually lay off a cop, and we cannot be the ones to set precedents in that," said Howard Giraldo, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The decision was a bittersweet moment for many people at the meeting. Because the school board withdrew the motion instead of putting it to a vote, some worry the issue could be raised again.

Although the school board said it would not cut jobs from the police force, the frozen pay raises for teachers are still on the table.