Derry Area School District approves MOU with Pennsylvania State Police, presents safety and security staffing and funding plan

The Derry Area School District Board of Directors on Jan. 23 approved a memorandum of understanding with the Pennsylvania State Police Kiski Valley station that will run Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2026, at no cost to the district, and received a staff presentation on the district’s safety and security program.

The presentation, led by district administrators and security staff, outlined state requirements under Act 55 (2024) for school safety coordinators and annual staff training, the district’s decision to employ school security guards, and state grant funding the district has used to add staff and mental-health supports.

Why it matters: The MOU formalizes which law-enforcement agency will be the responding entity at district schools and signals a partnership intended to expand training, patrol familiarity with buildings and relationship-building with students. Board members and administrators said the district faces a recent shift from grant-funded security positions toward ongoing local funding to sustain armed security guards and related functions.

District officials said the district now employs full-time school security guards (two at present) who meet National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) training and Act 235 lethal-weapons certification, and who were hired beginning in August 2023 after state grant funds arrived. Ken Main, the district’s director of facilities, grounds and operations and the school safety and security coordinator, described the coordinator role as covering training, threat-assessment participation, emergency planning, annual reporting and grant-writing responsibilities.

“Every school entity in Pennsylvania is required to appoint a school safety and security coordinator,” Ken Main said during the presentation. “This individual has to be trained and responsible for all aspects of safety and security…training to all of our staff, not just professional staff, all of our staff as well as our students.”

Corporal Robert Taylor of the Pennsylvania State Police, Kiski Valley station, attended and described the State Police role supporting planned drills, emergency response and partnership with local law enforcement when dispatched. “I’m one of four patrol shift supervisors…we appreciate the cooperation of everybody here making it a smooth transition,” Corporal Taylor said.

Officials reviewed incident counts the district reports in the Pennsylvania Safe Schools annual report. The presentation said the district recorded 34 law-enforcement-authorized incidents across its three buildings in the most recent full school year listed in the report and contrasted that with earlier years (61 and 44 in prior years). Board member Mrs. Fendish asked why borough and district incident counts differed; district staff said the figures presented are the number of school‑initiated incidents certified as part of the Safe Schools report and that off-hours alarms or outside incidents can produce different counts.

Funding and staffing: District officials traced the positions’ funding history to state safety-and-mental-health grant rounds beginning in 2022–23. The initial grant (grant #38349) included separate allocations for mental-health supports and safety/security. The presentation said the district spent about $110,000 of the first-year safety grant on salaries and benefits for two armed guards and used other grant funds for mental-health providers. Later state distributions were smaller, officials said, and the district has absorbed the recurring personnel costs into its local budget; the current budget line for safety and security is about $211,000, which the presentation said largely covers salaries and benefits for security personnel, the safety coordinator and contracted borough police services used as needed.

“Those grant funds that we have right now that are being used for mental health do not cover the amount of money it takes to support those two individuals,” a district official said, explaining the need to move recurring guard costs into the local budget.

Board discussion and community context: Several board members and administrators responded to public criticism and social‑media discussion about the district’s contract with Dairy Borough Police. Board President Daniel Fry and others said the district did not terminate discussions and that, on Dec. 17, Dairy Borough council held a separate action to end its police-service contract. Fry said the district had been willing to continue negotiations. He also responded to criticism that security guards are “rent‑a‑cops,” calling that characterization inaccurate and highlighting guards’ military and security training.

“I feel 100% confident and 100% that they are safe in those schools while they’re there,” a board member said of students in the district’s care.

What the MOU does not change: The MOU defines the State Police as a formal responding agency and frames expected partnership activities; it does not, on its face, change the district’s hiring model for security guards, which remain district employees. District staff said the MOU is at no cost to the district.

Next steps and transparency: Officials said the Safe Schools reports that underpin incident counts are certified annually and are publicly available; they offered to share email communications with Dairy Borough to clarify the negotiation history when asked by board members. Board members urged residents to attend meetings for full context rather than rely on social media posts.

Votes at the meeting included the MOU approval and multiple budget and contract items (see separate or below votes roundup).