The North Allegheny School Board voted unanimously Wednesday to create a school police department with armed officers headed by a chief of school police.
“North Allegheny Police Officers will play an essential role by being the first line of defense in a potential critical violent incident, building strong and positive relationships with all stakeholders, and taking a proactive approach to safety, security, monitoring, and training in each of the buildings they will help protect,” according to a districtwide announcement released Wednesday.
The first step, according to the district, will be to hire a school police chief, who will participate in the selection of police officers for each of the district’s 12 schools. The search will begin immediately.
Police officers would be deployed first to the middle schools, followed by the elementary schools, according to the district. The current school resource officers from the McCandless Police Department will remain at the two high schools until the district can transition to school police officers.
Dr. Brendan Hyland, who joined North Allegheny as school superintendent in July, proposed instituting an in-house school police department to replace the district’s current school resource officer program. Hyland said an in-house police department would increase safety for students and staff.
His proposal was unveiled publicly at a school board meeting Oct. 18, though the school board had discussed the issue privately at least since Sept. 20, when the board held the first of two executive sessions on the matter, the other session occurring on Oct. 5.
Board member Michael Weniger, who has first- and third-graders in the district, and said it was a “logic and common sense step” to approve an in-house school police department.
“I would much rather be prepared than devastated that we could’ve done more,” he said. “This isn’t politics. It’s common sense.”
School Director Elizabeth Warner voted to approve the police force, but expressed reservations.
“I’d like to explore a town hall addressing the community desires,” she said, adding she doesn’t recall previous board discussions about a police department prior to this year.
Warner said it felt like an “all or nothing” decision, with no options.
The school solicitor will petition Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to approve all officers and authorize the arming of duly trained and hired police officers in keeping with state law.
North Allegheny has 8,550 students in grades K-12 and a staff of 1,200.
Three community members asked the board to postpone the vote to get more community and parent input.
“This is politics 101,” said NA parent Lynne Williams.
Rita Martin, of McCandless, said she felt like there was a lack of transparency.
“I don’t feel like there are enough facts in this presentation at all,” she said.
She said the current school resource officers are “outstanding” and are “trained very well.”
“Think about this before going to vote this week. Take the politics out of this,” she said.
The school district has planned three public information sessions as to how the school police department will function.
They are:
Superintendent/Parents Liaison Committee — Nov. 1, at 9:30 a.m.
Elementary Advisory Committee — Nov. 3, at 9:30 a.m.
Secondary Advisory Committee — Nov. 10, at 9:30 a.m.
All meetings above will be held at North Allegheny’s Central Administration Office, 200 Hillvue Lane.
Natalie Beneviat is a Trib Total Media contributing writer.
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North Allegheny School Board approves creation of school district police department with armed officers - TribLIVE
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