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District officials, lawmakers meet at school safety roundtable

By Eric Morris for The Greene County Messenger 4 min read
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Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, speaks during a roundtable discussion on school safety Tuesday at Brownsville Area Elementary School. The event was organized at the request of Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson (second from left).

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Eric Morris | Herald-Standard

Carmichaels Area School District Superintendent John Menhart speaks to state lawmakers during a roundtable discussion on school safety Tuesday at Brownsville Area Elementary School.

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Eric Morris | Herald-Standard

Brownsville Area School District Superintendent Keith Hartbauer speaks to state lawmakers during a roundtable discussion on school safety Tuesday at Brownsville Area Elementary School.

State legislators heard from local school and municipal officials Tuesday regarding their efforts to improve security in area schools, as well as their concerns and needs moving forward to keep students safe.

The Pennsylvania House Democratic Policy Committee held a public roundtable discussion on school safety at Brownsville Area Elementary School that gave local officials a platform to speak about school security and the resources they need to better provide for their districts.

Requested by state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, the discussion featured a panel comprised of state Department of Education (PDE) officials, local school officials and local law enforcement. Snyder was joined by other House lawmakers from western Pennsylvania.

“No one knows what you need to protect your schools and your communities better than you,” said Snyder. “So I want to hear from all of you, of what you’re doing now and what you think we, as policymakers, can do to help school districts across the commonwealth so we can keep our kids safe.”

Brownsville Area School District Superintendent Keith Hartbauer said the district has worked this year to create an emergency response plan with local emergency response agencies to be prepared for emergencies scenarios.

The district, which employs six security personnel, struggles with resources to provide the latest security measures and training, said Hartbauer, expressing his hope for a level playing field for all school districts when it comes to securing funding.

Hartbauer said the biggest need in the district is mental health support.

“Public schools are just not made to deal with the large volume of mental health issues that are coming across our desks on a daily basis,” he said.

Policy Committee Chairman Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, told Hartbauer he would like to find a way to make it easier for students to receive mental health services in schools.

Panelist Carol Kuntz, director of PDE’s Safe Schools Office, spoke about the hot-button topic of arming teaching with firearms. When asked about the office’s stance on issue, Kuntz said PDE could only offer guidance for school districts to work with local police agencies to make such a decision.

Expanding on that, Paul Svoboda with PDE said the department does not have the jurisdiction to interpret local criminal code, under which the arming of personnel on school property would fall.

“We have given guidance that arming teachers would be a matter of local law enforcement, so local police would be tasked with deciding whether it would arm school (personnel),” Svoboda said, adding that the department does not offer an opinion on the matter.

Carmichaels Area School District Superintendent John Menhart told lawmakers that while his district has not made the leap to metal detectors due to limited resources and wanting to preserve the school setting, the district has made it easier and more efficient for students to report potentially dangerous incidents to school security and the administration with a free app for smartphones called Crisis Go.

The district has had ALICE training and has a plan in place in case of a disaster, Menhart said, but is hindered by the Pennsylvania School Code requirement to perform a fire drill once a month when that time can be better spent doing crisis and other safety drills.

Kuntz said in 2018-19 schools can substitute a safety drill in place of one fire drill within the first three months of the school year. Sturla said he and his fellow legislators could look to amend the code to help districts better prioritize their time and resources.

Rep. William Kortz II, D-Allegheny, informed school officials of two pieces of legislation recently introduced at the statehouse that would fund the Safe Schools Targeted Grant Program for all districts across the state.

House Bill 2150 intends to add $30 million to the grant program, which currently sits around $8 million in funding, to annually provide schools districts with money to improve school security. Kortz said the program would eventually be capped at $50 million and each district would receive $100,000 a year.

“Is that enough? No, not really,” said Kortz, “but it’s a damn good start.”

The program would be funded by House Bill 2149, which would raise the personal income tax in Pennsylvania from 3.07 percent to 3.077 percent.

“It’s pennies on the paycheck to protect our children in our schools, which we have to do,” said Kortz, adding that money received from the bill could only be used for Safe Schools and would be distributed equally to all school districts.

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