JACKSON TWP — Several concerned residents within the Seneca Valley School District protested with signs outside the Intermediate High School Monday night about the dangers of Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

Those residents also spoke during the following school board meeting and relayed their concerns that school officials have already entered into several agreements with drilling company Rex Energy, although no drilling has taken place on district property.

Their concerns stem from the fact that school officials approved leasing a small portion of property at Rowan Elementary School last year, as well as a piece of property on the secondary campus in Jackson Township to Rex Energy.

The lease at the elementary school is a nonsurface lease, however, which prohibits any gas wells being drilled on the property.

Linda Andreassi, director of communications for the school district, said Tuesday the district received $275,850 in a one-time payment for the leases for the two properties.

School officials also are currently in talks with Rex Energy about the possibility of leasing more than 140 acres of school-owned property near Ehrman Road in Cranberry Township.

About a half-dozen people stood outside the school with large signs, some demanding a moratorium on Marcellus drilling in the county with others warning about the dangers of the fracking process poisoning area water supplies.

Mirka Fatschel, a Seven Fields resident who has three children in the school district, said she understands the financial appeal of leasing property for gas drilling.

She cautioned, however, that no amount of money could repair potential environmental damage in the event of a fire, spill or other disaster at a drilling site.

“The Seneca Valley School Board is in a very difficult situation with a $10 million budget deficit and we are going to see serious cuts in the coming years, so I can understand why these land leases are attractive financially,” she said.

“Clean water, land and air are resources that our kids and our community can’t live without and are priceless.”

Resident Lou Hancherick said he’s lived right next to the secondary campus for decades and that the school has always been a good neighbor.

Hancherick changed his tune, however, when discussing the consequences in the event that the fracking process taints any of his well water.

“I’m putting you on notice,” he said. “I have the right to sue, and I will do so.”

Some people also came to protest a proposed 71-acre gas processing facility that could be built about a mile away from the secondary campus.

Jackson Township officials are holding a public hearing Monday at their municipal building concerning that plant.

While school officials have no say in whether the processing plant is built, concerned residents asked the board to at least petition Jackson officials to vote down the project.

School board officials listened intently to residents’ concerns and also talked privately to some after the meeting.

The school board made no comment, however, on whether it would publicly oppose the natural gas processing plant in Jackson Township.