JEFFERSON TWP — Several safety improvements were discussed by South Butler School Board members and the district's director of school police and transportation Wednesday.

While the meeting had been scheduled for many weeks, it was particularly appropriate in the wake of three incidents that occurred in the district last month.

Those incidents were:

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 weapon. State police also charged that student with having a weapon on school property

Middle school administrators learned of a threat made toward the school and one student. Superintendent David Foley said charges were not filed against the student who made the threat.

The recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla., also made the safety meeting pertinent.

At the meeting, school police director Patrick Sarnese discussed with the board eight agenda items regarding safety.

Sarnese said he and another school police officer recently observed metal detectors being used as students arrived at Butler Intermediate High School.

He said six portable machines checked the bags and bodies of all students, who were in their homerooms within 30 minutes. He said the system would cost $35,000, but the problem is staffing the machines.

“It was efficient and quick, but it took four people on each of the six machines to get all those kids in there,” Sarnese said.

He said South Butler has just four full-time officers. Support personnel and other staff have morning duties, and no one is going to accept the job to staff the detectors for an hour a day.

“If we're going to detect metal, we have to have these personnel there,” Sarnese said. “How South Butler comes up with these personnel, I have no clue.”

Board member Bob Goodlin asked Sarnese how Butler, a much larger school district, managed to staff their metal detectors.

Sarnese replied that teachers and school police officers were posted at each machine.

He said the machines wouldn't require an additional storage facility, as they are tall and narrow.

“They could be tucked into an office after school,” Sarnese said.

The devices could arrive in the district in six to eight days after being ordered, he said.

Sarnese also discussed an “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate” — or ALICE — training coming up in two weeks that will supplement training for teachers.

He said new teachers and students will be trained in ALICE. The training will be tailored to the students' grade levels, Sarnese said.

Regarding districtwide evacuation plans, Sarnese said the school board in 2016 approved a reciprocal agreement with the Butler School District in which all students from one district could be evacuated to the other district if necessary.

If students must be evacuated from the school buildings, Sarnese said, they would be sent to the stadium at the high school.

He said Foley has discretion regarding the subsequent movement of students and staff or reunification with parents.

The school board also heard from the district director of technology, Michael Losk, that the district's 193 analog security cameras can easily and relatively inexpensively be upgraded to digital using a converter.

Losk said the DVRs connected to each camera are antiquated and only refurbished parts are available to repair them.

He said the district would realize a significant savings in converting the existing cameras compared to buying new ones.

“There's nothing wrong with the cameras we do have,” Losk said.

Additional components would include a new server for the cameras, Losk said.

He and Sarnese said they would like to have the converters installed over the summer so the cameras are ready for use in the 2018-19 school year.

Losk did not give an estimated cost for the project.

Sarnese also discussed a threat assessment the district commissioned in 2014, when a consultant studied the campus and produced recommendations for enhancing security throughout the district.

Sarnese said he and Foley reviewed the assessment and its recommendations and discovered that the short-, mid- and long-term recommendations have either been completed or partially completed.

Sarnese said while that consulting firm is no longer in business, the state police will complete an assessment for free.

“It's good to have a fresh set of eyes,” he said.

But Sarnese said because the Butler barracks no longer provides the assessments, the district would be placed on a waiting list for state police from Harrisburg to do the project. He said the district may wait two years before security can be assessed by the state police.

Foley said because most of the initial recommendations have been met or partially met, being placed on the waiting list would be the best decision.

A $10,000 donation presented to the board on Wednesday night by a representative of PPG Architectural Coatings in Cranberry Township would offset the cost of the router needed for the camera conversion project, Foley said.

Other subjects at the safety meeting were the outdated card readers at building entrances, the potential purchase of an ATV so school police officers can efficiently navigate the campus and adding an antenna on the high school roof to improve reception in the school officers' hand-held radios.

A Parent Safety Night is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 20 in the high school library. More information on that meeting is available at the district's website, www.southbutler.org.