The Shapiro-Davis administration threw its spotlight on Indiana Area Senior High School on Friday during a visit by Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Executive Director Mike Pennington.
The goal was to highlight the Indiana Area district’s work with funding provided through PCCD’s School Safety and Security Committee and encourage schools to participate in the 2023-24 Pennsylvania Youth Survey.
“Our kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe within the walls of their school,” Pennington said. “It was great to hear first-hand from staff and students at Indiana Area School District about the great work being done to support students and make learning environments safer now and in the future.”
Pennington was joined Friday by IASD administrators, two students from the high school’s Leadership Seminar, Indiana Borough officials and other community dignitaries.
“Through partnerships with organizations like Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Indiana Borough Police, the Patula Group (safety and security consulting firm based in Nanty Glo), and many others, we are able to take a multi-layered approach in our efforts to ensure safety to the highest degree possible, for our students and staff,” said Superintendent Robert J. Heinrich Jr. “The majority of our efforts focus on prevention. After all, the goal is to do what we can to keep bad things from happening in the first place.”
Heinrich said the layers include creation of a positive respectful and supportive environment in all of the district’s schools, as well as the use of a Multi-Tiered System of Support to match students’ needs to high-quality, research-based instruction, intervention, and enrichment.
“From the board’s perspective, we are very proud of the work our administration has done with MTSS, both in building a positive, school-wide behavior ethic as well as in handling crises when they arise,” School Board President Walter Schroth said.
Since 2018, PCCD has awarded nearly $500 million through the School Safety and Security Grant Program to over 750 eligible school entities throughout the commonwealth to support school safety needs. That included nearly $790,000 to IASD over the past five years to support personnel, security enhancements, and behavioral curriculum.
“I’m very happy to see these funds being used effectively to keep our schools safe and to create a positive learning environment for the students,” said state Rep. Jim Struzzi, R-Indiana.
Most recently, IASD was awarded approximately $282,600 in fiscal 2022-23 School Mental Health and Safety & Security funding.
Part of that funding covered costs associated with contracting a full-time school police officer from Indiana Borough.
“The mission of the Indiana Borough Police Department is to enhance the quality of life of those we serve by providing the highest levels of service with a focus on peace, safety and comfort,” said Police Chief Justin Schawl.
Other parts of that funding went toward safety and security reviews and trainings and Youth Mental Health First Aid training for teachers and high school students.
“School can be a really scary place, especially when you’re dealing with things like depression or anxiety,” said Emma Masengale, a high school senior who two years ago helped bring The Green Bandana Project to IASHS.
As explained by Masengale and fellow senior student leader Kate Lehman, the main goal of that project is for students wearing green bandanas or ribbons on their backpacks to provide support to those struggling with mental health issues.
According to a story in the school’s High Arrow student publication, each student wearing a bandana or having a ribbon on his or her backpack provides “a sign that they are a friend to talk to if you are in need of help. This helps students feel more comfortable in their school environment and less alone.”
Also, PCCD funding provided for a full-time school psychologist to work at the district’s high school and junior high.
“We are not supposed to be a law enforcement agency, nor a social service or mental health group, but out of necessity we have been forced to provide those supports to our students in order to complete our primary mission in providing them a solid education,” Schroth said. “We would ask that the PCCD continue their work in providing these resources and allow the precious local tax dollars to be spent on our primary mission.”
As the board president summed up his comments, “it is not about more funding, but about funding that works.”
Since 1989, the commonwealth has conducted the Pennsylvania Youth Survey of students in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades to learn about their behavior, attitudes and knowledge concerning alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and violence.
“Before students even walk through the door, we are analyzing data from sources like the Pennsylvania Youth Survey to identify areas of focus so we can dedicate education and services to students that are most relevant to their actual needs,” Heinrich said.
PAYS is free for schools and all student surveys are voluntary, anonymous and confidential. The survey asks students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 questions about their school environment and their knowledge and attitudes toward mental health, alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and violence.
“The best approach to safety is to take proactive, preventative measures,” said Indiana Area Director of Education Justin Zahorchak. “By analyzing the data provided by the PAYS survey, we are able to dedicate resources to critical areas of need such as mental health support for our students.”
Registration for the 2023-24 PAYS is currently open and accepting new registrants until late November. So far this year Indiana Area is one of 380 school districts registered to participate in PAYS, as are most other Indiana County districts (Apollo-Ridge is an exception to date).
In 2021, over 240,000 students across 1,072 schools took part in PAYS.
As Pennington pointed out, “there is good work being done in many other school districts.”
And Schroth could point out, the multiple levels of safety and security built into the system in the Indiana Area district “has paid huge dividends.”
One such payment came on Sept. 8, when a 17-year-old male from Indiana was taken into custody after making threats and displaying at least one weapon in the presence of several students attending the Indiana Area-Shady Side Academy football game.
Schroth pointed to implementation of the Safe to Say program “and the follow-up threat assessment that our staff and outside experts conduct each and every time the safety of any student is in question.”
As Schawl said following the incident, “students of varying ages reported to school officials that they observed a person along the outside of the football field fence with a knife and what appeared to be a gun.”
The Indiana police chief said the suspect ran from the area upon police arrival but borough officers were able to locate and detain the male within blocks of the school.
As Heinrich summed up the situation a week later, “there is no problem moving forward.”
He said partnerships and protocols in place kept the problem outside the high school” Andy Kuzneski football field.
“That situation is a perfect example of why the mental health component of this and the preventative piece is so important,” the superintendent said. “When the students don’t have positive ways to problem-solve or to work things out, they act out, and when they find themselves trapped with no resources and no resiliency, sometimes the simplest decision is to do something that is not very smart.”
For more information on PAYS and how to participate visit pays.pa.gov.
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