Security guards are now equipped with firearms as they patrol Gateway School District campuses.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Jeffrey A. Manning last week approved the district's second petition seeking permission to have armed patrols, according to school board member Chad Stubenbort.
“We believe that the wishes of the majority of the school board have been met, which was to ensure the safety and security of students, teachers and staff in the district,” Stubenbort said. “We would have rather it come sooner, but we're pleased.”
The district's first petition was rejected in September by Common Pleas Judge Timothy Patrick O'Reilly. While that ruling was being appealed, the district submitted the amended version of the petition that Manning approved.
Stubenbort said the board still is “actively appealing” the first ruling and will decide whether it will drop it at January's board meeting.
The latest petition eliminated a request that the guards have arresting power and provided an explanation how the force would impact students and the district's educational mission. O'Reilly cited concerns about those issues when he rejected the first petition.
Board member Mary Beth Cirucci said the board has received positive feedback from parents in the district as a result of the approval for establishing the district police patrols. However, there seems to be a misconception that the district sought armed guards to protect students from internal conflict, she said.
“That's not the reason at all. We want to protect our kids and staff from somebody coming to do harm,” Cirucci said.
Glenn Raymer, who has three children in the district, is an assistant principal in the Butler Area School District. That district has had armed guards since 2012. Raymer agrees that having armed personnel in schools is not about student behavior.
“It's just how society is. The guards serve as a great deterrent for anyone who would want to come into a school and cause harm,” Raymer said.
He added that guards are not necessarily there to police the students and they respond to disciplinary issues at the direction of administrators — unless there is a threat of immediate violence.
“Officers work to develop the necessary rapport with students that can enable them to prevent those behaviors that interfere with the culture of learning that our educators and students have worked hard to establish,” Raymer said.
Gateway has been contracting with the Pitcairn Police Department to provide one school resource officer who was allowed to have a gun. As a result of Manning's ruling, 10 of the 13 unarmed, part-time guards employed by the district were sworn-in Dec. 13 as police officers by District Judge Jeffrey L. Herbst. The remaining guards were sworn in Dec. 16. All of the guards are retired policemen.
Samson X Horne is a Tribune-Review staff writer.
