Central Greene schools to integrate full-time police
WAYNESBURG – Central Greene School District is bringing in a full-time police officer this year to make the three schools within the district a safer place for students.
The school board passed a proposal Tuesday to enter into an intergovernmental cooperation agreement with Waynesburg to have a borough police officer work as a school resource officer.
This agreement means that an officer will be assigned to rotate among Waynesburg Central High School, Margaret Bell Miller Middle School and Waynesburg Central Elementary.
“One thing we don’t have here is the availability of a police officer in our building,” Superintendent Brian Uplinger said. “With this agreement, it will allow a licensed police officer in all three of our buildings. If a student doesn’t feel safe, they are not going to be able to learn.”
The district is partnering with Waynesburg and will be covering the costs to establish an officer’s presence. The school district previously had an officer on call, but this arrangement will upgrade the police presence. The officer who will work in the schools has not yet been selected and the cost of the program is not immediately known.
Uplinger said he wants to be proactive and ready for the worst-case scenario.
“It seems like that mindset is going across the entire state now. The sheer presence of an officer in the building will be great,” Uplinger said. “Oftentimes, the students will go to the police officer before they come to me, so it is a great resource for the students to have.”
Uplinger also hopes an officer’s presence will teach students about respecting authority and who they should turn to in dangerous situations.
Also during the meeting, the board passed a proposal to receive approval from Advent Communication Systems to update the phone systems in the entire district.
“It will have all the bells and whistles that we need to efficiently get the district up to speed in security,” Uplinger said.
The upgrades will allow the three buildings to be connected on the same system with direct contact to one another. Uplinger said this will help the district if it is faced with an emergency.
The new system will cost $159,405. Work is scheduled to begin in November and should take about 30 days to complete.
Also, members of the community came forward to address the board about the varsity baseball coaching position.
Gary Rohanna, Lori Paletta-Davis and Dave Calvario spoke about the district’s handling of the situation and said they did not agree or understand the outcome. Kevin Pincavitch, the former baseball coach, was released from his position in June and the job was opened.
“We are not going to stop on this issue,” Paletta-Davis said. “We are going to continue to come to these meetings until things change.”
Uplinger said the district will be making a decision for the open position very soon. Interviews with the candidates, including Pincavitch, were scheduled Wednesday and will be conducted quickly to get someone in the position as soon as possible, Uplinger said.
“We are going to have that taken care of here very quickly,” Uplinger said.