BUTLER TWP — During the past year, the Butler School District has been a regional leader when it comes to armed school security.

In December 2012 out of coincidence, the Butler School Board approved arming retired police officers in their secondary schools. The approval came just days before 20 students were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Butler school guards were immediately armed after those shootings.

The retired officers carried their own weapons, and expanded the security to the district’s 11 elementary schools.

“There was an immediate and positive change,” said Superintendent Mike Strutt. “That positive attitude remained for a long time. But now, “It’s become routine ... There was a sense of reassurance, a calming effect.”

Paul Epps, school police coordinator for the district, agreed.

“We get a lot of support from the general public about us being armed,” he said. “The support is overwhelmingly in our favor.”

Security guards who previously were at elementary schools were replaced with retired state troopers. The secondary schools previously had retired state troopers, but they were unarmed.

Now, there is one armed retired state trooper in each elementary school and two in each secondary school. Strutt stressed the fact the guards are retired police officers is another layer of safety.

“These are highly trained men with years and years of experience,” he said. “Over the course of the year now we’ve been doing this, we’ve never had anyone draw a weapon. No close calls, no nothing.

“They are armed for one purpose and one purpose alone,” Strutt said.

That purpose is keeping students and faculty safe.

The changes in security cost an additional $100,000 for the district. Cathy Rodgers, business manager, said the projected costs for school police this school year is $815,612.

The district received national media coverage, including a story in The Washington Post and then a live national television broadcast by Fox News from Summit Elementary School for one day in January 2013, marking one month since the Sandy Hook shooting and one month since Butler had armed security officers.

The district’s action caused it to be an example for other school districts to follow. Strutt said he’s been contacted in the past year by 30 to 40 school districts, mostly in the state, asking how Butler made the switch to armed officials.

Karns City was one of those districts. It has had armed retired state troopers at all of the schools since April.

“Butler School District was very helpful in sharing information,” said Eric Ritzert, Karns City superintendent. “They were gracious enough to allow us to see what they do.”

Like Butler, Karns City has metal detectors and armed retired state troopers in all of their schools, elementary and secondary.

The South Butler School District implemented similar measures. There are two armed personnel who rotate throughout the schools, which are all on one campus.

The Mars School District doesn’t have armed guards in the schools, but it does have contracts with the municipal police in Adams and Middlesex townships.

“We have an excellent relationship with local law enforcement,” said Jim Budzilek, Mars superintendent. “They engage students on a regular basis.”

And thanks to a $4 million state Department of Education grant, 81 school districts in the state are able to hire a safety and security person, including the Slippery Rock and Freeport school districts. Slippery Rock and Freeport each received $40,000.

If funds are available, they will receive half that amount the next school year.

It essentially provides seed money to districts looking to enhance their security.

In Freeport, the new security person would do a safety audit of the school buildings. The school board has not decided yet if that to-be-hired employee will be armed.

The Slippery Rock security employee will handle more day-to-day operations in safety, said Kathleen Nogay, superintendent, but that person will not be armed.