"As the weather improves and we near the end of the school year with so many special events and activities, we feel this partnership with the police will add an additional level of safety and security in the building," school district Superintendent Nina Zetty said Tuesday.
Peters Township Council on Monday agreed to a request by the school district to post an officer at the high school. An officer began working there Tuesday.
Township Manager Michael Silvestri said two officers will alternate duty at the school. He said the district will be charged $31.66 per hour to cover the salaries of the officers.
Silvestri said he proposed the township charge the district only for the base salary, and not the entire cost of the officers, including their benefits. He said the district charges only the salary and not the benefits of the janitorial staff when it cleans up after the township uses school district facilities.
Silvestri said that the school district is looking into having a full-time resource officer for the district. This idea has been considered and rejected in the past, but he said Zetty believes there are now a majority of members interested in it.
The police presence in the building, according to the district, is the latest in a series of conversations and plans that the district has worked on with township police. Building safety audits were conducted to seek ways to improve security.
"This is not in response to any isolated incident or threat in our buildings," said Shelly Belcher, district spokeswoman.
On April 30, a Peters Township High School student, Taylor Christian DiBart of 117 Simmons Road, McMurray, was charged as an adult with a felony count of aggravated assault after police said he struck a fellow student, Hunter Braden, with a metal baseball bat at DiBart's home. The district was not involved and the incident did not occur on school property.
Braden was hospitalized with a head injury. DiBart is free on bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before District Judge James Ellis June 9.
In another incident, two Peters Township High School students were to receive citations following a fight in the cafeteria, May 4, township police said.
Robert H. Schmitt, 18, of 234 Marion Drive, and Raymond N. Santomo, 19, of 114 Breezewood Drive, Venetia, will be cited for disorderly conduct, police said.