JEFFERSON TWP — A Parents' Safety Night is being organized by the South Butler County School District superintendent in which active-shooter trainers who have taught the school staff will apprise parents of how students are taught to respond in a crisis.

Superintendent David Foley did not have a specific date on Monday for Parents' Safety Night, but he said parents will be notified of the event in advance.

The event is being planned after three incidents occurred last week:

A knife was found in the middle school and the owner was charged by police with having a weapon on school property

A knife was confiscated from a high school student after another student notified administrators of the knife. State police also charged that student with having a weapon on school property

Middle school administrators learned Thursday of a threat made toward the school and one student on Tuesday. Charges were not filed against the student, Foley said Monday.

In response to the incidents, Foley said an additional school police officer has temporarily been added to the school system's police unit.

Friday's letter to parents said school police officers will continue to provide “a solid presence throughout the district, including supervision during arrival and dismissal.”

Foley said Monday that the school board safety committee meeting March 7 — which was planned before the incidents took place last week — will include administrators and board members discussing school security.

The school board safety committee meeting is open to the public.

“We are going to talk about additional measures for safety throughout the district,” Foley said.

He said the extra school police officer will join the current force, which includes officers to cover each school building.

“He'll be an extra set of eyes and he'll patrol just as the other school police are doing, patrolling each one of the buildings,” Foley said.

The school police officers have visited many of the classrooms at the intermediate elementary school to allay any students' fears, Foley said.

“We will continue to look at ways to refine our safety procedures at school and work collaboratively with parents and the community to ensure that students are safe throughout the school district,” he said.

Cpl. Timothy Morando, the crime investigation supervisor at the state police barracks in Butler, said all of South Butler's school police officers are retired troopers.

He said the lead school officer contacts him to discuss whether an incident constitutes a credible threat.

If so, the troopers on patrol go to the school and make arrests. If not, the school takes action if they see fit, Morando said.

If a threat is more than the patrol officers can handle, state police investigators go to the school to deal with the issue.

Morando said he has not yet seen the reports on last week's incidents, but no investigators were sent to the district.

He said residents in the district should be glad to have the school police officers in place at South Butler.

“I have all the confidence in the world in them,” Morando said. “They can make the judgment calls.”