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Sto‑Rox security director says incident rates stable, outlines threat‑assessment and drill plans
Summary
Michael Petragala, the district's director of school security, presented discipline and safety metrics showing similar incident counts year‑to‑year, described changes to threat‑assessment procedures and announced planned lockdown and evacuation drills.
Michael Petragala, Sto‑Rox School District's director of school security, told the board the district's safety metrics for Aug. 1, 2024 through Jan. 31, 2025 show the same top incident types as the prior period and that counts are largely stable when accounting for improved reporting.
"The top incidents both years were class skipping, physical aggression, defiance, disruption and out of bounds," Petragala said, adding the district has drilled down into the data and moved to a more rigorous, electronic reporting system to make the numbers "accurate and actionable." He noted some year‑to‑year increases reflect better capture rather than worsening student behavior.
Petragala described steps taken to strengthen prevention and response: standardizing threat assessments with an approved PDE flowchart, creating multidisciplinary threat‑assessment teams in each building (including student services staff, guidance and security), and clarifying when an incident requires escalation. He explained that many assessments close quickly when guidance staff determine a report is not credible.
On communications and tips, Petragala said the district has made the anonymous Safe2Say reporting link more prominent on its website, updated building rosters used by the service and developed grade‑appropriate and faculty training modules.
Security operations data also now track radio calls by category, distinguishing major calls (fights, physical aggression requiring assistance) from routine requests (bathroom unlocks, visitor screening, phone distribution). Petragala said that tracking helps allocate security resources.
Planned next steps include emergency operations plan (EOP) reviews and training (primary center in March; upper and junior–senior high reviews and drills), A.L.I.C.E. lockdown training in March and building evacuation drills in April. Petragala emphasized making the EOP a "living system" rather than a binder and said the goal is a layered, prevention‑focused approach that protects students while preserving a learning environment.
Board members pressed for better alignment of discipline definitions and reporting. One board member said the district must avoid double‑counting incidents (for example, logging a fight and a separate physical‑aggression incident for the same event); Petragala and the board agreed to align handbook definitions and improve consistent data entry.
The presentation closed with a plan to continue monitoring incident trends and coordinate drills with local law enforcement.
The item was informational; no board action was taken at this meeting.
