Shenandoah Valley School District Forms Police Department
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania September 4, 2023
Students at Shenandoah Valley School District have been starting their day off a little differently than in past years.
Upon entering school, they must walk through metal detectors designed to pinpoint metallic objects or devices attached to their body.
As in airport security, students must place their belongings in plastic containers, while their backpacks and bags are checked — manually — by school police officers.
Those measures are part of a new initiative the district has introduced to bolster student safety and security: Following action taken by a number of other area schools, Shenandoah Valley recently established its own in-house police force.
With two full-time school police officers and a school resource officer, the department provides daily police presence that ensures “continuity” in serving security needs, according to Superintendent Brian K. Waite.
“We were having difficulty with consistency with school security,” Waite said. “And we really preferred to have consistency — someone that we know would be here and has been part of our community.”
The SPOs, Jack Buchinsky and John Hancock, are full-time employees who are equipped to serve all law enforcement needs within the district. They work with Shenandoah Valley’s longtime SRO, Adam Bernodin, of the Shenandoah Police Department.
Buchinsky believes a school police force should have a positive influence on everyone in the district, including students and teachers. Daily police coverage, he said, means the district does not have to rely on Shenandoah police to handle certain assignments or incidents.
“We’re not here to intrude on everyday lives,” said Buchinsky, a Shenandoah Valley graduate who served a stint as an SRO about a decade ago. “It’s more of being a mentor. The school handles school discipline. We’re here for the safety aspect. If a police issue does arise, we’re here, and we can deal with it.”
Waite stressed the importance of employing officers like Buchinsky and Hancock, who are both Shenandoah area natives and are deeply familiar with the community. Bernodin, too, is a strong local asset, having been employed by the Borough of Shenandoah for nearly 50 years and by Shenandoah Valley for about a decade.
In providing a police presence, Hancock said, schools enforce lessons of security and conduct early on in life. He said the primary goal of a school police department is to keep students out of the juvenile judicial system, as it often leads to adult problems.
“It starts early,” he said.
Since the first day of school, Aug. 24, officers say they have had a smooth start to the year and had positive experiences with students. While they haven’t been involved in major criminal cases or incidents, officers expect to issue a number of citations, including for vaping, which Waite recognizes as a growing problem in the school.
“That’s becoming a huge safety concern for us and our kids,” Waite said. “Not just here, but generally across Schuylkill County and the state of Pennsylvania. … That’s something we’re trying to educate our students on this year.”
Waite hopes students will also find continuity in the support system over their years in the district.
“We have continuity now, where our kids will get to know them and see them,” he said. “Build those relationships. … We want them to understand how police can be good, and how they can help support you and help be models for you.”
Waite said that, in the coming years, the department’s goals and objectives will likely expand as they gain experience with many aspects of the district. For now, though, he said they are using opportunities to grow and to educate students and staff “in a positive way.”
“Right now, it’s about learning our procedures and processes in the district and getting people to recognize they’re here and what their role is,” Waite said.
Raymond J. Kinder, Tamaqua Area superintendent, said the district established a department in 2021 to bolster safety in the wake of nationwide mass shootings, and due to a boost in state funding.
As its first venture into hiring a police presence, the district chose to employ its own officers rather than hire school resource officers from local municipal forces.
“Police forces, in general, are having trouble keeping officers.” Kinder said. “Taking time away from the local police departments didn’t seem like a good idea.”
Over the past two years, police and students have crafted a positive and productive relationship, Kinder said, noting officers are seen as a “support system and an aid, as opposed to something negative.”
“Our officers try to get to know students and try to work with them,” Kinder said. “They want them to stay out of trouble. They don’t want to get themselves into having any issues that are going to impede their education. So, I think that’s the approach our officers take when dealing with students, whether with elementary students or high school or middle school students.”
Another reason for creating a police force, Kinder said, was to avoid complications based on the district’s municipal boundary lines.
Tamaqua Area’s secondary school building is located in both Walker Twp. and Tamaqua Borough, which could complicate coverage for school resource officers.
“Even though there’s a cooperative agreement (between the departments), you’re dealing with different municipalities there, so it kind of made sense to handle it our own way,” Kinder said.
The district currently has two part-time SPOs and is seeking a third officer.
Kinder said that, for students, having a police presence represents “another level of support in helping them find the right track.”
“You try to do the best you can, between the infrastructure in your building and the people in your building, in creating an atmosphere where students, faculty and staff feel safe to be every day,” he said. “That’s obviously the best thing for education. When people feel more comfortable, they’re going to perform better.”
Like Tamaqua, Pottsville Area established a school police department in 2021 as its first foray into hiring police security.
Now consisting of one full-time and three part-time officers, the police force has been a prominent presence within the district, and officers have built relationships with students, staff and families, according to Jared Gerace, director of curriculum and school safety and security coordinator.
“People are deterred from violating laws during the school day and at after-school events,” Gerace said. “Combined with the excellent partnership the district has with the Pottsville Bureau of Police, these healthy relationships provide the atmosphere of safety with law enforcement officers at an early age.”
While there haven’t been any felony cases, officers write non-criminal citations for summary offenses including vaping, disorderly conduct and truancy, said Superintendent Sarah E. Yoder.
Yoder said officers are trained to provide support during all types of emergencies, noting that an SPO had recently assisted someone with a health emergency until a school nurse and an ambulance arrived.
“Officers help with aspects throughout the school day, from students entering and exiting the building safely, to de-escalating situations,” she said.
Last year, Mahanoy Area became the third county district to establish a dedicated police force.
School Police Administrator Craig Stine and Officer Frank Gallo oversee all aspects of the school day procedures across the district, from the arrival of high school students in the morning to the dismissal of elementary students in the afternoon.
Stine said a statewide trend of employing SROs began in 2019, when then-Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 67 into law. The legislation authorizes only school employees or contractors who meet the definition of “school security personnel” — SPOs, SROs and school security guards — to carry firearms while performing their school duties.
Under Act 67, personnel are required to take the 40-hour School Security Personnel Basic Training Course to become certified in those capacities.
Business Administrator John J. “Jack” Hurst, who also serves as the school safety and security coordinator, said the May 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was among the reasons the district took additional security measures.
Stine agreed that tragedy “triggered a lot of schools into the same mentality: That we need to improve our security and to harden our school for such an event. We have two frontline officers ready if something like that happens.”
