Boyertown Talks School Shootings and Security

Photos by Evan Brandt

Marybeth Torsica takes the oath of office as

Boyertown's new assistant superintendent.

What if you had to take the oath of office for an important new job, but everyone forgot to bring the oath?

Or, to put it another way, what if you were Marybeth Torscia?

Because that's what happened to her Tuesday night when, for the second time, her swearing in was on the agenda only to hit a hiccup.

Last time, the district justice did not show up. This time, the oath of office went missing.

Luckily, the Internet came to the rescue and, after an uncomfortable delay, Boyertown Schools, which have suffered an exodus of top-level administrators in recent months, has a new Assistant Superintendent.

(Interviews for finding a new superintendent are reportedly ongoing.)

But Torscia's swearing in aside, perhaps the most significant thing from last night's Boyertown School Board meeting came at the end.

That's when, after a parent raised an issue the administration seemed intent on discussing anyway,

Boyertown High School seniors Taylor P. Winner, left, and

Ryan P. Hopkins, were recognized by the board Tuesday night for

being finalists in the National Merit Scholars program.

talk turned to the school shootings in Parkland, Florida and what school security measures Boyertown has in place .... and are they enough?

Board Vice President Steve Elsier, who ran the meeting in the absence of President Donna Usavage, became emotional while discussing the issue and said he would like the administration to provide an update and consider possible additional measures to improve school defenses against a shooter.

"We can't control the Second Amendment, but can control what do to keep children safe," he said.

"There is no amount of money you can put against a life," said board member Ruth Dierolf.

"This is a secure buildings issue, not a guns issue," said board member Clay Breece. 

"We asked for gun-free zones and that's what we got. Anyone with a gun knows where gun-free zones are," he said, adding "We need to do something and stop talking in political circles. Can solve this as a nation."

Boyertown School Board Vice President Steve Elsier, right, 

congratulates phys ed teacher Darla Lieb, who teachers at 

Gilbertsville and Colebrookdale schools. She's been named the 

Teacher of the Year by the Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks Association

of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. 

David Krem, the district's interim superintendent, said he has twice dealt with "active shooter" issues in his career and disagrees with President Trump that arming well-trained teachers is the right answer.

"The number one key element in school safety, is the parents," said Krem. "But we have to tighten up our program. Every school district does because every school district whose members walk around and think 'it can't happen here,' is as wrong as wrong can be."

"It can happen anywhere, at any time and the numbers prove it. We've had 137 school shootings since 1980 and 297 students have been killed," said Krem. 

"One thing I've learned for sure; if you have a shooter who wants to get into your building, they're going to get into your building. It doesn't matter how many armed guards you have or how many metal detectors you have."

Some parents have suggested armed guards and Krem said "I crunched the numbers. It costs $1 million for one armed guard at the front door of every school. It's a million dollars a year and it only goes up."

Board member Brendan Foose, who was present by speaker phone, said he was at Boyertown High when the Columbine shootings shocked the nation, and it's only gotten worse since then.

Instead of asking for a security update once, he suggested the board commit to doing an annual review of security measures.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting: