Nov 12, 2003 By Patty Shultz 6 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – Connellsville Area School District officials do not believe that the ability for a board member to enter the high school without being questioned by security personnel is a signal the building is not safe for those within the facility. Board member Charles Wilson, who serves as chairman of the district safety and security committee, chastised the security at the high school last month after he was able to walk through the school’s baseball field and parking lot and then gain access through a doorway without being questioned about why he had not obtained permission to be on the grounds or his reason for being at the facility.

Senior high Principal Bob McLuckey said he does not take lightly the responsibility for the safety of the schools’ student and staff population.

From about 7 a.m. until late afternoon Monday through Friday, some 1,300 10th through 12th graders and 130 teachers, aides, monitors, custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries and security personnel are on high school property.

“I do take their safety very seriously,” said McLuckey.

Just a few feet from his Connellsville Area High School office are monitors that are connected to cameras throughout the building that record activity within the facility. Nearby is a security officer who registers incoming visitors while outside is a security guard who stops each vehicle that enters or exits the grounds.

The security measures can also be seen throughout the building as uniformed and non-uniformed personnel walk the hallways.

Since the April 20, 1999, incident at Columbine High School in Colorado, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a March intrusion at the high school, security has become a priority issue at all district facilities.

In addition to the creation of a safety and security department several years ago, district officials have purchased camera units, changed the visitor policies, hired additional security officers and made other improvements to enhance the district’s security systems.

Wilson said his surprise visit was to check the in-place systems.

“We’ve taken a lot of (security) measures since the March intrusion and I wanted to see if they were working,” he said following the high school visit.

Parking lot attendant Ron Martray was standing outside a small outdoor building used by him to monitor the rear student parking lot and patio area where students gather during lunchtime the day Wilson made his unexpected security check.

“I saw him coming,” Martray said. “I could see his reflection in the windows of the doors.”

Wilson, he said, walked along the sidewalk and passed his outdoor building. As Wilson passed by him, Martray said he greeted the school director, but there was no response to a question about how he was doing.

“I didn’t think anything about him being here,” said Martray. “He was dressed a little different. He had on some kind of beanie hat with Poverty Neck Hillbillies written on it, but he’s up here a lot and I didn’t think anything about him coming into the building.”

Martray said Wilson crossed through the patio area and pulled on what he thought was a locked door.

“He looked back at me and I motioned for him to use the (cafeteria area) entrance which is open during lunchtime,” Martray said. “He turned back to the door, pulled at it again and was able to go through it.”

Martray said he never considered Wilson’s entrance a breach of security.

“If I didn’t know who Chuck Wilson was, he never would have gotten by me,” he said. “I would have done everything in my power to stop him, and if I didn’t, there were people right inside the building that would have stopped him.”

Senior high student Frank Molinaro was outside chatting with Martray when Wilson approached and asked the monitor about who Wilson was as he walked by the two.

“I feel very safe (at the high school),” Molinaro said. “There are monitors and security police throughout the building. Visitors have to have passes and you can’t get to the front door without checking in at the gate.”

According to McLuckey, Wilson made his way to the library where he asked a librarian to contact the administration office.

“Once he was in the library, he spoke with assistant principal Bruce Jaynes, and talked about how easy it was for him to get to that point,” McLuckey said. “(Wilson) said he witnessed a couple of openings in the building and that we needed to be more vigilant in keeping them locked.”

McLuckey said that he also met with Wilson and discussed the security matter.

“The only explanation I can give for why he was able to get into that particular door, is that it is one where the hardware is in pretty bad shape,” he said. “Sometimes it catches and sometimes it doesn’t.

“Each morning the monitors go through the building and check that the panic bars are turned up so that they will close and lock.”

McLuckey said because the staff recognized Wilson there was no need to contact him when he entered the school grounds or building.

School director Jeffrey Harvey serves with Wilson on the safety and security committee, but was not apprised by Wilson that he planned to conduct an impromptu security check.

“We should do occasional security checks, but I don’t think it is advisable for a known board member to do it,” said Harvey. “I would have been agreeable to go with him and get the chief of security and building security to go with us to check the school without notifying them in advance.

“I believe that would have accomplished the purpose.”

Charles Matthews, district director of safety and security, said the high school does present a challenge for those in charge of keeping the students and staff safe while in the building.

“It’s one of our largest facilities with the largest number of people in it on a daily basis,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have a lot of people going in and out of the building. Vo-tech students and staff have to have access; teachers conducting outdoor gym classes are in and out with their students.”

Within the 30-plus-year-old building there are 23 entrances, with most having multiple doorways. The majority, said Matthews, are secured and do not allow entrance from the outside.

Others that are used regularly by students and staff are being upgraded to a keyless entry system that is scheduled to be in place within the next few weeks.

“That will take care of some of the problems,” said Matthews.

The remaining entrance security issues, he added, are to be addressed when the district begins to renovate the high school.

“I had hoped (the renovation program) would be further along so some of these problems would be on the way to being eliminated,” he said. “But we are leaps and bounds ahead (in the area of security) than we were a few years ago.

“Can we do more? Of course there is always room for improvement.”