Board considers ID cards
The Uniontown Area School Board is considering issuing identification cards to high school students, faculty and staff, a move that could more efficiently pinpoint perpetrators of bomb threats. High school Principal Thomas Colebank said the ID cards would have provided “a detailed time scenario of who was actually gone” during the time that a threat was scrawled on a bathroom wall near the school’s swimming pool on Tuesday.
Two female students discovered the bomb threat that read, “Our school will be bombed 9/29/09 be ready” at 8 a.m. and reported it to a teacher. School security was notified and students were evacuated and sent home a few minutes later. All after-school activities were canceled.
A state police explosive detection team, school police and district maintenance personnel spent the next hour searching for explosive devices, but found none.
School police Chief Don Homer said through review of video surveillance, school officials have narrowed down the perpetrator to 17 out of more than 1,000 suspects.
Dr. Charles Machesky, district superintendent, sought and received board approval to permanently expel the student accused of the crime from school at a safety/security committee meeting Friday as well as have him or her repay the district for bus transportation costs incurred the day the threat was discovered. That’s in addition to having to face criminal charges from police.
The ID system will provide district officials with a better way to track students to “really see what’s happening,” said board President Ken Meadows.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Meadows said.
Machesky said he would like to see the system in use by Oct. 31.
According to a draft policy laying the ground rules for use of the ID cards, students will be required to wear an ID card while on school property or participating in any school-sponsored activity. The card would be shown at school events, used to purchase lunch and to check in upon entering school.
Students who do not follow the ID policies will be subject to disciplinary action as follows: first offense, warning; second offense, three detentions; third offense, in-school suspension and loss of extracurricular activities for a week; fourth offense, out-of-school suspension and loss of extracurricular activities for a nine-week grading period; and fifth offense, out-of-school suspension and loss of extracurricular activities for a year, the policy read.
Colebank believes the program will speed up the cafeteria line and said students will be able to use the card to check out library books as well. He said the software for the program has already been purchased.
The board also introduced a draft parent-teacher meeting policy.
A boy was charged in September with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct after he allegedly grabbed district police Officer Alfred Malik and threatened Malik and Ben Franklin School Principal Bob Manges, shouting that he would return to the school and “kill them all,” according to Uniontown police Officer Travis Shandor.
The outburst occurred after the student learned he was being sent home for the remainder of the school day at the conclusion of a meeting between the principal and him.
It’s not the first time an incident has occurred during a conference about a child’s behavior.
In February, the mother of a suspended student, Wendy Thomas, 40, of Uniontown, allegedly assaulted former Ben Franklin Principal Yolanda “Babe” Defino during a scheduled meeting.
Defino suffered minor injuries from the attack.
The policy under consideration states that parents should be notified of an incident involving their child and the parents and school staff should decide whether the incident requires a conference to further discuss the incident.
Paul Bortz, chairman of the board’s safety/security committee, asked that parents sign an agreement outlining certain actions that are not to be taken.
Meadows said his biggest concern is the ability of a school official to summon help if needed, whether in the form of a panic button or another method. Homer said he can be reached via radio.
Profanity, obscene gestures, loud, boisterous behavior, verbal threats, threatening body language, indifference and failure or refusal to be checked by metal detectors are grounds to discontinue a meeting.
Metal detector operators are asked to be aware of possible signals of a threat like excessive perfume to mask odors, slurred speech or exaggerated changes in behavior.
Metal or nonmetallic items that could be used as weapons will be confiscated and placed in safekeeping, the policy states.
In response to the latest incident, Homer plans to distribute to school officials a list of people who are not allowed on school property.
The board must approve two readings of any policy for it to become official.