End of Mars Area School District/Adams Township police agreement stokes concerns
ADAMS TWP — A tiny item on a school board meeting agenda has become a big controversy.
Parents and students in Mars Area School District flooded the Adams Township Municipal Building on Monday night, May 12, to express frustration over the severance of an agreement between the Mars Area School District and the Adams Township Police Department.
“I’ve witnessed students going to officer (Mike) Bordt and officer (Randy) Ruediger frequently in times of crisis,” said Joe Joswiak, a health and physical education teacher in the district. “Many students go to the police officers first when they have safety concerns. Occurrences of bullying, drug-related issues and family crises, just to name a few things that they're involved with.”
As part of the agreement, which will expire at the end of this school year, the police department sent two of its officers to patrol the school district’s five buildings. The two township police officers are part of a hybrid, five-member school police force, with the other three officers consisting of school-employed officers.
According to Bordt, contract negotiations between the district and the police department broke off earlier this month, with the district deciding to replace both township police officers with school officers and hire a full-time security director.
“Our association is deeply disappointed by this decision,” Bordt said.
The district established the hybrid school police force in 2019, and Adams Township police have had a presence at the school since 2012.
“It has been an absolute honor to serve and protect the thousands of students, staff members and staff members in our community,” Bordt said. “Over the years, we have worked hard to ensure the safety of all five Mars Area School District buildings, which serve more than 3,500 students and over 300 staff members.”
Multiple parents and employees of the district also stepped to the podium to express their support and thanks for what the township’s police officers have done for the school.
Bordt said there are major differences between the township-employed school resource officers and the full-time school-employed officers the school district plans to use.
“The school district does have reliable school police officers, but they have a completely different job than a school resource officer, which is what the two current Adams Township police officers are,” Bordt said. “School police officers focus on security and maintaining order. School resource officers focus on this too, but specialize in mentoring. We also have a close working relationship with building principals and assist them with discipline and charges when needed.”
The five-member board of supervisors told residents that they were also caught off-guard by the school district’s decision. Russell Ford, the board’s chairman, said he found out about the decision from a phone call after the school board’s meeting the previous week.
“Over the past few months, some very difficult things have occurred, none that we like,” Ford said. “We stand here 100% united in the belief that we should have our officers in the Mars Area School District, all five of us.”
Ford said negotiations between the township and the school district to renew the contract had gone on since March. During talks, according to Ford, representatives from the district told the township that they wanted to reduce the Adams Township Police Department’s presence in the school police force.
“They wanted to talk about going to less than two officers,” Ford said. “And frankly, my viewpoint is we should have more than two officers, but the contract wouldn't allow for that.”
According to Ford, the police department — and by extension, the township — would also lose out on a significant amount of revenue from the loss of the contract. However, if the school district does not reverse its decision, Ford promised that the police department would not suffer any layoffs.
“I just want to remind everybody, Adams Township has not raised taxes since 1994,” Ford said. “We're going to find a way to make it work.”
