Mar 15, 2020 6 min read

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The five Greene County school districts were recently informed that each will receive a portion of $155,000 in state funding that will be used to promote and support a variety of school safety and security efforts.

The announcement was made by state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, who said Carmichaels Area, Central Greene, Jefferson-Morgan, Southeastern Greene and West Greene school districts will receive the school safety and security grants.

The grants, Snyder said, are provided through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s School Safety and Security Committee. This committee is the result of Act 44 of 2018, and is responsible for establishing the standards schools must meet when performing school safety and security assessments.

Each school district applied for and was awarded the PCCD grant funding, which can be used to support school safety-related training, hire school personnel – including resource officers, counselors, social workers and psychologists – and purchase security-related technology.

All of the school districts will receive $30,000, except for Central Greene, which will receive $35,000.

In her announcement, Snyder said the funding will “help ensure our schools remain safe places for students to learn, and also ensure they have the necessary resources to keep students and staff safe, including additional personnel, updated technology and training.”

The school districts also received PCCD funding in 2019, and late last year, each district was awarded an additional $50,000 in school safety funding from the Greene County Commissioners.

Carmichaels Area School District Superintendent Fred Morecraft said that in addition to the paying for the overall general improvement of school security and safety, the state and local funding has enabled the district to hire and train two school police officers, Robert Toth and Craig Miller, both veteran law enforcement officers.

Morecraft said the hiring of the men has been “a blessing” for the district.

“It is wonderful that we were able to hire two men with such impressive credentials,” he said. “Robert is a retired Waynesburg Borough Police Chief, and Craig is the former Cumberland Township Police Chief and current Carmichaels Borough Police Chief. They bring vast experience and knowledge, they provide critical coverage for both district buildings and they are both extremely vested in the safety and security of our district.”

Central Greene School District Superintendent Dr. Helen McCracken said the PCCD funding will enable the district to purchase a visitor management system, which will enable each building to have a more stringent process in place for identifying visitors.

“Visitors who enter any of the district’s buildings will be required to show their identification, and that information is then processed into a detailed programming system,” she explained. “This new system can be programmed to identify any ‘red flags’ or concerns that visitors may have, and then our staff will be able to handle matters swiftly and accordingly.”

McCracken said the funding will also be used to enhance the surveillance camera system that is already in place at each building.

Joseph Orr, Jefferson-Morgan School District Superintendent, said this year marks the second consecutive year that JMSD has received PCCD funding for school security. Last year’s funding enabled the district to hire a school police officer – Brian Shuba, a retired Pennsylvania State Police Trooper – in October, and this year’s funding will continue to pay for ongoing general improvements to school security.

“Brian has been a phenomenal asset for our schools, for our students’, safety,” Orr said. “It is very fortunate that all Greene County districts are able to obtain this PCCD funding, so that each one has tremendous opportunities to improve security protocol. With school district budgets being typically tight, this is important for all of us.”

Meanwhile, Southeastern Greene Superintendent Rich Pekar said the school district used funding received last year to replace the surveillance camera system inside Bobtown Elementary School, and the 2020 grant money will be used to replace and improve the camera system at Mapletown High School.

Pekar said the administration is pleased with the new camera systems.

“These new and updated cameras are great,” he said. “They are hi-tech and hi-def with zooming capabilities, and they can be remotely accessed by administration, school police and even local law enforcement.”

Pekar added that having new security cameras in both school buildings will be significant, combined with the presence of school police, in ensuring the safety and well-being of the students.

For the West Greene School District, School Resource Officer Jared Edgreen said the recently awarded funding will continue the district’s dedication to maintaining safety for the elementary, middle and high school students in the district.

Edgreen, who was employed as a former U.S. Secret Service agent for nine years, said the district received two PCCD grants totaling $175,000 in 2019, including a very competitive grant for $150,000.

Those fundings, in addition to the money received from the county commissioners as well as the recent PCCD grant, is enabling the district to bring its infrastructure “to the 21st century.”

“Many good things regarding security and safety are happening here,” Edgreen said. “The middle-senior high building is older so it is being retro-fitted to address our security needs. Exterior door locks have been updated and replaced with electronic, micro-chipped key fobs.”

They are also completing ongoing upgrades to the surveillance camera system, which will interconnect the entire district, he said.

“We have 55 hi-tech, hi-def, 360 degree angled, motion-sensor activated cameras in place that blankets every area. And these cameras can be remotely accessed, and surveillance can be spotted at any and all exterior doors.”

Edgreen added that the recent PCCD funding will also pay for a new wireless security camera system covering the school’s football field, as well as a new intrusion detection system.

“From one end of our district to the other, and everywhere in between, the buildings will absolutely be covered,” he said.

Edgreen stressed that the overall goal to improve school security and safety also includes the desire to provide comfort to the students.

“We don’t want them to feel like they’re in Fort Knox,” he said. “We need to provide security, but we also want to provide comfort. My job is to make those two important factors work together. It’s a challenge, but this administration strongly believes in it.”

Other security improvements at West Greene include updating the district’s Emergency Action Plan, which covers every single room in the buildings.