Parents in Hempfield Area School District plead for enhanced safety after gun buys on campus

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Hempfield Area School District parents are pleading with the school board to develop enhanced safety plans and be transparent about those plans after an incident where two guns were found at the high school last Monday.

>>> Charges filed against 3 students at Hempfield Area High School after 2 gun buys on campus

“I want to know what they’re doing to keep my child safe, and they’re not saying anything. So, to me, they’re not doing anything,” said parent Lindsay Stevens. “I’m just a little frustrated with the board that everything is talked about behind the closed doors in executive session.”

Monday night, the school board met one week after three 15-year-old students were caught taking part in two gun exchanges last Monday -- one in school and one on the bus.

The guns were recovered and the three students were charged as juveniles.

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki says the board has met in private three times since that incident and is weighing new safety protocols.

“While we know we do want to consider what can be implemented, we also want to be very intentional. We want to look at what does the research say, what is the most effective,” Wolicki said.

Over the past week, students have been wanded by school security on their way in each morning.

But students and parents would like to see that taken a step further.

“It’s terrifying as a parent, but I’ve been saying to the school board for a long time now, we need SROs in every school building, we don’t even have full time SROs, let along metal detectors,” Stevens said.

“With wanding, every time we’ve done it the last three years, there’s been three incidents, we’ve stopped after a week,” said student school board representative Shawn Murray. “What’s to say someone’s not bringing another weapon or doing another threat after the wanding’s done?”

According to district solicitor Krisha Dimascio, the board does not even know all the specifics of last Monday’s incident. That’s because members will have to serve as an unbiased jury in disciplinary hearings for the three students involved.

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