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Officials talk school safety at Peters roundtable

By Trista Thurston staff Writer tthurston@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read
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Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Local law enforcement and school administrators met Monday to discuss school safety initiatives.

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Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

State Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, left, helped host a talk in Peters Township Monday about school safety.

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Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

The state Senate Majority Policy Committee held a talk Monday with local law enforcement and school officials to discuss school safety.

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Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Trista Thurston/Observer-Reporter

Senators Guy Reschenthaler, David Argall, Camera Bartolotta and Mike Regan hosted a talk on school safety at Peters Township Library Monday with area law enforcement and school administrators.

Although everyone can agree something needs to be done to prevent shootings in schools, how that can be accomplished is up for debate.

The state Senate Majority Policy Committee hosted a roundtable discussion Aug. 6 at Peters Township Library with local law enforcement and school administrators in what was the first in a series of at least four meetings planned across Pennsylvania.

Officials hope to shape upcoming policy based on these meetings, as well as notifying those in the community of approved and pending efforts to help.

Republican senators Guy Reschenthaler, David Argall, Camera Bartolotta and Mike Regan led the discussion, focusing on prevention, training and funding during the two-hour talk.

The legislature approved $60 million to improve school safety earlier this year, a hallmark of the recently passed budget. It’s a question of what efforts districts prioritize and how that money is used. Argall highlighted there is diversity in the needs of the school districts across the state, so the funding isn’t tied to one specific effort and to allow for flexibility.

Regan outlined recent legislation passed, including efforts that require mandatory security drills, allow school boards to discuss school safety measures in executive session and require teachers to train on school safety.

“It’s nearly impossible to make a school completely safe. It’s an open environment. But we can certainly make it safer,” Regan said before opening the meeting up to comments from the attendees.

One issue many police chiefs raised, including Canonsburg Chief Alexander Coghill, Peters Township Chief Douglas Grimes and Mt. Lebanon Chief Aaron Lauth, was the lack of consistency with police training. Lauth detailed a recent training with EMS and fire personnel, and he would like to see more interdisciplinary training.

Also lacking in consistency is the wide variety of law enforcement officers who can be present in an educational setting. School resource officers, school security officers and school police officers may fulfill similar roles but come to the position differently. And in Pennsylvania, there’s no telling what sort of training these officers have because there is no statewide standard.

Aaron Vanatta, who has worked with the state and national Association of School Resource Officers and is an officer for Quaker Valley School District, said all of these different school officers are doing their own thing, and there is no way to monitor if they are completing supplemental training. He said the message needs to be consistent to ensure there are “carefully selected and properly trained” individuals protecting students.

The elephant in the room throughout the whole conversation, Regan said, was money.

“You really could spend yourself into oblivion,” he said, adding it’s about what changes are realistic.

For example, many administrators agree they want at least one school resource officer in each school building, but doing so across the state could cost upwards of $300 million, Regan said.

Putting more responsibilities on the shoulders of teachers, from needing to recognize potentially troubling behavior to learning to protect their students, means something has to give. Peters Township School District Superintendent Jeannine French said more and more is being piled on teachers’ plates.

Bartolotta, R-Carroll, and Reschenthaler, R-Jefferson Hills, both emphasized prevention efforts. Reschenthaler has introduced a bill that would require mental health screenings along with physical examinations in sixth and 11th grades.

“Action is needed. I think we all knew that, but it was a question of how we do it. We need to work with our local law enforcement, and we have to work with our school districts to make sure that we’re all on the same page. We’ve seen that prevention is worth so much more than anything else,” Reschenthaler said.

Learning those behavioral cues could be the key to stopping something terrible before it happens, Bartolotta said.

“We’ve been really looking into this issue for some time, and this is the first time we’re bringing it to the district,” Bartolotta said. “It’s been on everyone’s mind for a long time, but now we need to hear from these folks: What is most important to you? What is vital in your district, and how can we, as legislators, facilitate what you need?”

Bartolotta said she would like to see the conversation shift from a focus on active shooters to mass casualty events, no matter how they transpire.

“Where can we spend those dollars to be most effective? Is it prevention? Is it training? Is it structural?” Bartolotta wondered. “All of this information is going into the right ears with this policy committee. We’re going to look at all of it, from across the commonwealth, and find out what are the best first steps that we can make to create consistency.”

About 30 people from Allegheny, Washington and Greene counties attended the discussion.

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