Pottsgrove Offers Pols Input on School Security

Submitted Photo

From left, Pottsgrove Schools Superintendent William Shirk, state Sen. Bob Mensch, Brenna Mayberry, student representative on the Pottsgrove School Board, and Joshua Ross, president of the Pottsgrove High School Student Government.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottsgrove School District.

The Pottsgrove School District recently attended a Senate Majority Policy Committee forum on school safety at Quakertown Area School District.

Superintendent William Shirk, Superintendent and Maggie Scott, teacher and student governement advisor, attended the forum , along with Pottsgrove Student Government President Joshua Ross and Brenna Mayberry, student board representative.

The purpose of the Sept. 21 forum was to discuss student safety and exchange information about the challenges districts across the Commonwealth are now experiencing. 

The Senate Majority Policy Committee plans a number of these discussions as they discuss additional school safety legislation.

Senator David Argall, Chairman of the Senate Majority Policy Committee, was joined by Senator Bob Mensch, Senator Mike Regan and State Representative Craig Staats at the forum.

A number of Senate Bills, including Act 39 and Act 44 were discussed as additional legislative measures are still being considered. 

Students from Quakertown Community and Pottsgrove High School were each asked questions by members of the Senate panel. Both Mayberry and Ross articulated an increase in school safety preparations, training and the anxiety associated with school safety.

"In today's society, kids who are not 18 feel like they have no say because they are not at the legal age to vote. Being provided this opportunity to express my view to State Senators about an issue that pertains to many who cannot vote was a great experience," said Ross.

"At the safety conference we discussed mental health and discussed legislation pertaining to hiring social workers and trained security for schools. Students should get more opportunities like this to show the world what we are going through," he said.

"I was honored to attend Senator Mensch’s Public Roundtable on School Safety in Quakertown. The topics discussed included student opinion on school safety, budgets for school safety programs, the role mental health plays in discovering and preventing threats to school safety, along with many other important issues," said Mayberry. 

"It was incredible to see public officials so devoted to making children feel safer in schools. Some solutions suggested at the conference included hiring an SRO (student resource officer) at every school, requiring mental health evaluations at sixth and eleventh grade physicals, and putting more money towards training teachers and SROs in overall school safety precautions. It was a fascinating experience, and I look forward to seeing these leaders pass policies to make schools safer for everyone," she said.

Lawmakers passed school safety legislation, which includes a $60 million grant program to give school districts flexible options to improve school safety, including hiring school security personnel and counselors, purchasing safety equipment like metal detectors, and implementing special programs to reduce violence in schools.

Spring-Ford Looks at Armed Guards in Each Building

The travels of my company's sole municipal reporter for the region can take me far and wide ... and sometimes to more meetings than one in a night.

Having been attracted to the Limerick Township Supervisors meeting by a vote on a new police contract -- more on that tomorrow -- I found myself free by 8 p.m., only a half-hour into the Spring-Ford School Board meeting just down the road.

And so your intrepid reporter trundled down Lewis Road to what, according to the agenda, would be the back half of meeting with no big news anticipated.

And then Mark Dehnert spoke.

Noting the recent tragedy at Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida, Dehnert said he would like to see the administration look into having armed security in every school building.

And suddenly, there was news, both timely and poignant.

It just goes to show you, never trust an agenda.

Anyway, as you will be able to see from the Tweets below, the conversation ranged from whether armed security would be effective -- "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Dehnert in his best NRA impression of NRA President Wayne LaPierre -- to when and how longs the doors to the school are open.

The fact that the district just had a security audit two years ago seemed relevant, said Superintendent David Goodin. After all, the district already has two armed security guards based at the high school, but which visit all 11 buildings, he said.

Ultimately, the board agreed to ask for a cost-analysis of having armed security in each building, as well as a cursory review of the two-year-old audit by the company that did it.

You can read about that, and more, in the Tweets below: