Students and community members visiting Hempfield Area School District buildings could soon be subject to more frequent searches as district officials work to create new safety measures after two gun-related incidents this month.
School directors on Monday presented a new section of their search policy that would permit daily searches on school property if approved by the superintendent. That’s a change from the current policy, which calls for reasonable suspicion before a search is conducted.
Changes to the policy were placed on 30-day review, Superintendent Tammy Wolicki confirmed.
Conversations around school safety came after two-gun related incidents shook the Westmoreland County community this month.
The first took place in early October when three 15-year-old boys were allegedly found exchanging guns at the high school, police said at the time.
Two loaded handguns were found Oct. 2 by school resource officers in two students’ backpacks. According to police, both guns were brought by one student and given to another student while on the school bus. When classes started, police said the first student met a third student in the bathroom and exchanged the other handgun.
There was no indication the teens were planning any form of attack, police said at the time, noting that the students were previously in contact and chose the school as the location where they would exchange guns.
The teens are now facing multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses.
Less than a week later, state police were alerted to threatening messages posted on Snapchat against Wendover Middle School. Investigators determined that a student sent a series of messages to a Snapchat group that dozens of students are part of saying that he would bring a gun to school and shoot others. Police also said he threatened to bring a bomb.
The student was arrested at his home. Guns were found at the house, but they were not in the child’s possession. No explosive devices were found.
While nobody was hurt during either incident, school officials quickly shifted their focus to tightening school security. Shortly after the threat was received a security committee was formed to address the events, made up of four board members, administration, and school and state police. The committee’s first meeting was Oct. 16.
Proposed changes to the district’s search policy are now some of the first major steps taken following the threats.
Under the amendments, school directors permitted the use of metal detectors and wands for those entering school buildings. The superintendent may authorize daily use of the detectors when it is deemed necessary or on selected days to address safety concerns such as threats or on days when special events are scheduled. Notices will be posted when the devices are in use.
And if a metal detector is set off, the policy now permits school officials to search the person “for the limited purpose of determining whether a weapon is concealed,” the policy reads.
Students and staff who decline to be searched can be disciplined and members of the public who refuse can be denied access to school buildings and asked to immediately leave the property.
The changes are in addition to what was originally laid out in the policy, adopted in 2015, which states that school officials have the authority to lawfully search students, their belongings, lockers and cars if there is reasonable suspicion of contraband, materials that would pose a threat to the health and safety of the school or evidence that the law was violated.
Random searches are also permitted during the school day or upon entry to school buildings even if there is no suspicion of contraband but they must be conducted in a minimally intrusive manner through screening methods such as dogs, metal detectors and other technology.
First Published: October 25, 2023, 6:58 p.m.
Updated: October 26, 2023, 4:01 a.m.
