Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Chambersburg Area SD receives annual safety report detailing K-9 program, weapons-detection purchase and 219 ‘Safe to Say’ tips
Summary
Chief Carter told the school board the district is updating MOUs, completed state police vulnerability assessments at all 18 buildings, used PCCD grant funding for weapons-detection systems and a K-9 team, and logged 219 Safe to Say reports this year, including 27 life-safety tips.
Chief Carter delivered the Chambersburg Area School District’s annual safety report at a board meeting, outlining compliance steps under state law, new equipment purchased with grant funds, and student-safety case counts. The report, presented publicly after a brief administration prefatory remark from Superintendent Chris Bigger, said Pennsylvania State Police vulnerability assessments have been completed at all 18 district buildings and that the district is updating memoranda of understanding with local and state law enforcement.
Why it matters: The presentation summarized where the district has invested recent grant funds and where staff will continue threat-assessment and mental-health screening work. Board members asked about hazardous-materials scenarios, reverse-evacuation planning and the availability of bus- and stop-arm camera footage — questions that the administration said they would continue to refine with county and state partners.
Chief Carter described grants and purchases that the district used to expand safety capacity. He said the district purchased Metracin weapons-detection systems (trialed in October) primarily for athletic events, added radios through a meritorious grant to improve communications, and used a PCCD grant to fund the weapons systems and to bring on another school police officer. Carter also described the district’s K-9 program: handler Officer Confer and K-9 Gunner were trained and recertified; the district has used the K-9 team for demonstrations and for limited searches at secondary schools. “They’re mainly going to be for athletic events to start,” Carter said of the detection units.
The report gave specific, district-level counts. Carter said the district handled roughly 1,100 incidents this year (a broad category including presentations, staff assists and student contacts) and conducted about 1,140 school visits by officers. Through the attorney general’s Safe to Say anonymous-reporting system, the district recorded 219 tips: 27 classified as life-safety (student self-harm concerns) and 192 other tips. Carter noted a cluster of 44 social-media threats concentrated in a two-day span that temporarily increased the tip count. He said each life-safety report receives coordinated follow-up among principals, counselors, law enforcement and parents.
Carter also reported 459 children-and-youth referrals districtwide and nearly ten incidents involving weapons on school property (all knives). He summarized threat-assessment training provided to administrators, counselors and social workers, noting the district brought back FBI special agent Jeff Ford on June 2 for additional staff training and that the district partners with the state police and the Franklin County district attorney’s office for assessment work.
Board members pressed staff on tabletop planning for uncommon events. Board member comments included a question about scenarios involving hazardous-materials releases from passing rail tank cars and whether prevailing winds and community evacuation paths are exercised. Carter said the district conducts larger tabletop exercises with county control, fire departments, the HAZMAT team and Fort Indiantown Gap when applicable and that such plans are part of county-level coordination.
The board also discussed in-school video and stop-arm camera technology. The district said many buses already have high-definition stop-arm cameras and that footage is used when incidents are investigated. Carter said the district tracks drill completion closely and that nearly all required drills were completed (99.9 percent across the district) during the school year.
At the end of the presentation the board thanked the safety team and noted that if there are sensitive items that cannot be discussed in public, the board can brief members in executive session at any time. Superintendent Chris Bigger and members of the board praised officers for their work and affirmed continued public reporting and partnership with law enforcement.
