Schools reassure parents of safety after Texas shooting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - After 19 children and two adults were killed at school in Texas, schools nationwide are now reassuring parents of school safety.
"This has been really difficult," Allegheny Intermediate Unit Director of Safety and Security Aaron Skrbin said.
The Allegheny Intermediate Unit works with schools outside the city. Under Act 44, each district must have a safety plan.
"Where we come in is that I can go in and help them to develop a revision if they need that assistance. If they need assistance with partnering agencies, I can connect them to that," Skrbin said.
In Penn Hills, they partner with the local police department to have officers stationed in the high school. As soon as you come into the parking lot at the high school, you'll see emergency call boxes and cameras all over the parking lot. They also have security guards in all other schools in the district. Police Chief Ronald Como says additional officers can respond to any incident within five minutes.
"I'm just glad that we work well and have been planning and hope we never have to use our plan," Chief Como said.
In the wake of yesterday's shooting, some local districts like Norwin and North Hills sent letters to parents, reminding them of their security policies.
In Pittsburgh Public Schools, their department of school safety works with emergency responders, students run active shooter drills and the teachers and principals are trained in ALICE -- alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate. They also replaced all doors to make sure they lock from the inside.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said each of its schools has its own safety plan, and they are constantly learning the best practices.
"But that doesn't mean that we aren't doing everything we can possibly do right now. We are. If there's anything else we can do, we will look at that and do it too," Diocese of Pittsburgh Director of Catholic School Michelle Peduto said over Zoom.
In talking to all the schools and police, they made one thing abundantly clear. If you see any warning signs, someone talking about harming others, social media posts, alert someone. Even if you have no direct connection to the school, you could save a life.
