Pittston Area School Board provides rifles for school police officers

YATESVILLE — Pittston Area School District has put one shotgun and one AR-15 rifle in each of its four schools, securing the new weapons in safes with biometric locks that can only be opened with the fingerprint of the school police officer assigned to that school.

The news was released during Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting, which also included appointing current District Principal John Haas as assistant superintendent, a post that has been vacant for at least a decade, Superintendent Kevin Booth said.

News of the new rifles locked in each school came at the end of the meeting after Board Member John Adonizio asked about new security equipment purchased by the district. Booth said the purchase included new radios for the district police and their secretaries, then told about the new rifles.

Board Member Joseph Salvo said the move was made after extensive discussion among board members and law enforcement officials, some of whom recommended the purchase. Board President Frank Serino said in the wake of recent school shooting incidents that involved high powered semi-automatic or automatic rifles, the board felt the district risked putting school officers “at a disadvantage” if they had to respond with pistols.

Serino also noted that while the district has a high level of confidence in local police forces responding to such emergencies, having the new rifles on site and accessible to school officers trained to use them could assure a quicker response than even the few minutes it might take municipal officers to arrive with similar equipment. Both Serino and Salvo said school safety is a work in progress, with additional plans to install alarms on doors that would notify administration or school police officers if a door was left open beyond a set length of time.

After the meeting, Booth said he doesn’t recall anyone in the assistant superintendent post since several years before he became superintendent. He also said the move is “budget neutral” because Haas will initially be getting the same salary he has received as district principal. Booth didn’t recall Haas’ current pay. According to state records, his salary in 2021-22 was $120,242.

The board also:

• Approved the formation of a student chess club.

• Accepted a change in the retirement of Marian Lenchak, moving her date from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20, and a string of new intents to leave the district.

• Accepted the retirements of technology assistant Mary Jo White, high school teacher Katie Martin and school certified nurse Julie Donahue, and accepted the resignations of educational assistants Lisa Lokuta and Laura Marriggi, boys assistant soccer coach Cory Rowan, and maintenance mechanic Matthew Szumski.

• Agreed to contribute $3 per student to the Pittston Memorial Library for the current school year, at a total of $9,501.

• Appointed Eugene Anderson as maintenance mechanic, Heather Canfield as educational assistant and Diane Graziosi as part-time custodian.